Gastro bartenders

The folks concocting drinks at your favorite bar have moved up the ladder so don’t refer to them as barmen anymore :  They’ve been elevated to “mixologists”  as they search for ever more enticing ways of getting you looped.   This coming year, they’ll be especially concerned about your health, of all things.  Trendy bars, restaurants and clubs will formulate cocktails from organic fruit juices, vegetable purées, and vitamin-filled sports drinks instead of gooey syrups on the dubious premise that if you’re drinking anyway, you may as well also get your antioxidants.

Cocktails are being “enhanced” with herbs like rosemary, basil and lavender, and bartenders are playing with bergamot oil (think Earl Grey tea) and even saffron.

Superfruits – pomegranate, acai, goji berries – that last year were hot in health food stores are now so mainstream that they’re appearing in alcoholic cocktails.

Bartenders also are creating desserts, in tandem with pastry chefs, so you’ll be able to eat your cocktail.

Some loopy scientists have discovered that adding alcohol to strawberries and blackberries increases their antioxidant capacity.  So watch for them, and other highly colored elixirs (like watermelon juice) to subliminally lure customers into thinking that the latest Cosmo variation is good for their health.