After nearly two decades of making hangover-inducing cocktails for Manhattan boozehounds — Iggy Pop among them — at joints such as Le Souk, Jules Aron became a juicehead in the best sense of the word.
Burned out on bartending, fatigued by the hours, tired of deflecting peer pressure to drink and sick of being surrounded by drunk people, Aron retreated to a cabin in upstate New York, where she struck upon the idea for her new healthy cocktail book “Zen and Tonic” (The Countryman Press).
The guide to body-friendly inebriation features recipes for punch made with marigold petals, vodka offset by kiwi, and gin sweetened with carrot juice.
“There are no artificial flavors and no [added] sugars,” says Aron, 42, who now splits her time between Merritt Island, Fla., and New Berlin, NY, a town near Syracuse.
The resulting drinks are flavorful without being sickly sweet, tastier than boring vodka soda — and far less likely to give you a hangover.
A yoga enthusiast, Aron first dabbled in health-conscious cocktails while tending bar at the Delancey on the Lower East Side, where she muddled berries for martinis, infused whiskey with rosemary and eschewed sugary margarita mixes.
