Can you drink all night and not get a hangover?
A biochemist-turned-cocktail maker says his recipes are designed to prevent an ugly morning-after — and it doesn’t involve an IV drip or gimmicky sports drinks.
Alex Ott, 40, whose lab is above a seedy Times Square peep show, claims that drinkers’ recovery depends on what they imbibe during the night out, instead of the next day.
“I’m going to show you a different way of entertainment — have 12 cocktails and still feel fine the next day,” said Ott, whose day job is crafting bar menus at more than 300 venues including Sushi Samba and the Refinery Hotel in the city plus hot spots abroad.
He has also worked for NASA’s Space Food Systems Laboratory.
Ott cooks up vitamin-filled concoctions during his “safaris,” which have lured Susan Sarandon, Blake Lively, Demi Moore and Alan Cumming to his secret lab near Eighth Avenue.
Now he’s opening the underground quests to all New Yorkers starting at $300, and The Post put his claims to the test.
Our night began at 7:30 p.m. with a shot of tequila paired with an orange slice topped with cinnamon. “If you want to experience this night, you have to trust me,” said the German-born scientist, who studied biochemistry and molecular biology.
Next, Ott served a gin cocktail with cucumber, lime and white cranberry juice as we sat surrounded by the tiny bottles of essential oils, extracts and powders he uses to invent drinks. He claims his collection of ingredients is worth $1 million.
“This puts a spring in your step and luster in your hair,” Ott said of the cucumber’s B vitamins and magnesium and the lime’s antioxidants. “The drinks that I do have a certain purpose. This one is more replenishing.”
What’s Ott’s secret? He disagrees with time-honored tips like sticking to one kind of liquor.
Instead, the self-described “homeopathic renegade” uses fruits, teas and extracts, while shunning anything with artificial flavoring. If you mix liquor with healthy, vitamin-filled ingredients, he says, you’ll avoid disaster.
“You can mix any spirits as you like!” he said, while also advising a pint of water every two hours.
He says the goal is to imbibe B vitamins to boost the body’s glutathione, an antioxidant that plays a crucial role in liver detoxification and eliminates acetaldehyde — a byproduct of alcohol metabolism that’s more toxic than alcohol itself.
His “Xanax in a glass” came next, an elixir with a bourbon base, raspberries, lemon and chamomile and damiana teas, which act as stress-busters to prime guests for more of his potions.
“Let’s booze it up!” Ott instructed. “The faster you drink it, the more awake and the happier you get, and that’s the entire purpose of doing this.”
It was about 9:30 p.m. when Ott gave us a drop of Szechuan button extract, an analgesic that felt like battery acid on the tongue.
The safari members were tipsy as we decamped the kooky workshop, convinced we had forestalled the delirium tremens. Until we reached the bar at the Refinery Hotel — and the potables took their toll. By 12:30 a.m., we had consumed 10 drinks, and the 11th was a brandy cocktail. We never made it to 12.
While one safari explorer emerged hangover-free, I wasn’t so lucky. Ott’s botanicals averted complete disaster but couldn’t wake me in time for work. Still, I knew that without Ott’s initial cocktails, the aftereffects would be much worse.
“I’m teaching people not to look at the alcohol so much, but what you mix it with,” Ott said.
A long night
The 11 drinks bartender Alex Ott served one (mostly hangover free) night:
7:30 pm — The Little Death: Tequila, fresh orange topped with cinnamon.
8 pm — The Fountain of Youth: Gin, white cranberry juice, cucumber, Pimm’s No. 1 Cup, Angostura bitters.
8:15 pm — A variation on the Intergalactic Peace Pipe: Bourbon, chamomile tea, Damiana tea, lemon, monk fruit powder and raspberry syrup.
8:30 pm — A shot of Absinthe, set on fire and poured into a shot glass
8:50 pm — Struggle Buggy: Tequila, diluted tamarind paste, anise syrup, pineapple, honey and lime
9:30 pm — Tobacco Vanilla: Spiced rum, pear juice, sandal wood powder, liquefied honey, lemon juice, vanilla extract, beet color, shaved nutmeg.
10:30 pm — Another Struggle Buggy
10:50 pm — Another Little Death
11:15 pm — Quinoa Old-Fashioned: Corsair quinoa whiskey, grade B maple syrup, muddled raspberries
11:45 pm — Fascinator: Gin, Aperol, cherry juice, Pimm’s No. 1 Cup, and club soda
12:30 pm — Beau James: Brandy, pear nectar, fig jam, sandalwood, lime