A single night out on the town can quickly turn into a night of bottle popping, pouring wine, downing beer or spirits, in what easily results in one too many drinks. The unforgettable memories and shameless fun comes along with the head-pounding and body-aching regret the morning after drinking: a hangover. While the only way to prevent a hangover is to drink in moderation, Johannes Van Leeuwen, a bioengineering professor of Iowa State University, has developed IngeniOz, a corn-based vodka with zero impurities, which promises to cure a hangover.

The appeal of a vodka with no impurities, touted by its creator as better quality, smoother, and less likely to cause a hangover, has led to men from Clear Lake, Iowa, Bill Astor and Jerry Jrause, to wet their whistles in the vodka industry. "We feel we've got something," Astor, part of a company called OZ Spirits LLC, told The Globe Gazette. "It has no impurities.”

IngeniOz contains zero impurities, and less likely to cause hangovers
Photo courtesy of IngeniOz/Facebook. IngeniOz Vodka/Facebook

Leeuwen developed the process, which uses Iowa-grown corn, to create this vodka, and later went on to become the founder of OZ spirits in 2012, along with James Eason of Raleigh, N.C. The emphasis on zero impurities derives from the fact most spirits do contain these impurities, known as congeners. These different compounds are produced during the fermentation process and are largely responsible for the taste and smell of alcoholic beverages. Acetaldehyde, one of the various compounds that make up congeners, is considered to be 30 times more poisonous than alcohol and is one of the main causes for hangovers.

A 2008 study published in the journal Alcohol & Alcoholism found the more congeners present in a spirit, the more likely the drinker will get a bad hangover. Moreover, dark liquors contain the most impurities, since they are an integral part of the flavor of these liquors. Currently, clear liquors such as popular vodkas Smirnoff, Absolute, and Grey Goose, have eight, 16, and 14 impurities, respectively.

"We researched the bottle so we could find the cleanest bottle possible," Astor said. OZ spirits made sure the packaging of IngeniOz would contain product information and how it compares to other vodkas. Currently, the pure vodka comes in an Arizona-style bottle with a blue label and necker. The “ultra-vodka” is sold for about $24 at retailers in Iowa, but the company hopes to sell the liquor in Minnesota and Illinois.