Scientist Claims He’s Invented ‘Hangover-Free Alcohol’

He certainly has our attention.

Anyone who ever woke up the morning after a big-time bender with a hammering head and sour gut will rejoice: an English scientist says he’s invented booze that won’t give you a hangover.

David Nutt, reports The Independent, is a professor at Imperial College and one-time drug adviser to the British government. Nutt claims he has created “alcosynth,” which the paper reports will “mimic the positive effects of alcohol but doesn’t cause a dry mouth, nausea and a throbbing head.” 

Nutt also says he’s acquired patents for 90 varieties of alcosynth and is actively testing two of them on willing human guinea pigs. Because seriously, who wouldn’t give that a shot?

According to Nutt, alcosynth will be a regular bar staple by 2050. “It will be there alongside the scotch and the gin,” he tells The Independent, and barkeeps will “dispense the alcosynth into your cocktail and then you’ll have the pleasure without damaging your liver and your heart.”

Alcosynth, Nutt claims, already mixes well in classic cocktails like the mojito and the Tom Collins. It’s essentially a non-toxic drug that gives the drinker all the good parts of tying one on without any of the bad—much like the fictional synthehol that livened up parties on Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

A ton of questions remain about Professor Nutt’s fake booze, including whether or not governments may treat it like much less benign-sounding substances such as ecstasy. 

There’s an argument to be made that maybe hangovers wouldn’t be an issue if partiers knew when to say when—but given human nature and just how tasty a good mojito can be, we’re rooting for alcosynth.

h/t The Independent