It’s the festive season once again! This means endless feasting and drinking over the CNY holidays. Not surprisingly, this is also a time of cumulative hangovers from drinking and mahjong all night long.
We know you can’t wait to pop those bottles of champagne you bought since 11.11 sale last year on Lunar New Year’s Eve, but if you wish to wake up feeling fresh the next day, you’ll need to watch your intake. Truth be told, these glasses of bubbly are likely to give you a hangover, read on to find out why.
If you’re a social butterfly or have a difficult time refusing a drink, let us help you to be more strategic about what you should consume to avoid the risk of getting completely blootered on the first day of the lunar new year.
Important to note: Please adhere to the CNY visiting rules and safety measures as our fight against Covid-19 isn’t completely over.
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The Alcoholic Drinks That Are Most And Least Likely To Give You A Hangover
Let’s get the facts right: all alcohol is dehydrating, meaning that all of it will cause hangovers.
As for hangovers, they come with varying degrees of severity — depending on which type of alcohol you consumed. In fact, certain alcohols such as Vodka and Gin are less likely to give you a hangover the next day. Why is this so? You’d wonder, don’t they all contain just ethanol?
Here’s why: It’s the congeners, which are the byproduct of fermentation or distillation.
The congeners are the contributing factors to a drink’s colour and flavour, but they are difficult for the liver to breakdown. As a general rule, the darker-toned liquors, the higher amount of congeners and the more likely they are to leave you with a bad hangover.
A common myth is that the sugar in mixed drinks leads to severe hangovers, but in reality, we can only fault sugar for making our cocktails too darn tasty and then we overconsumed.
The one safe bet is that everything should be consumed in moderation.
According to an article in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, the following are drinks in order from least to most congeners:
Vodka
Vodka contains almost no congeners at all as it has been distilled completely to achieve a clean, neutral taste and is less likely to give you a hangover. But this is not a suggestion for you to overconsume it!
Clear Liquors such as Gin, Sake and White Rum
Clear liquors such as Gin, Sake and White Rum tend to have the lowest amount of congeners, meaning they are less likely to leave you feeling ill the next day. These clear spirits typically underwent distilling several times, filtering out the congeners.
ICYMI: Craving for a G&T? Here’s how to make one at home.
Dark Liquours like Whisky, Cognac, Bourbon, Brandy
Dark liquors like Whisky can cause hangover for days as they are high in congeners, which give the drinks their colour. Be sure to drink in moderation.
Champagne and Prosecco
Obviously so delightful and delicious that you might just empty the entire bottle on your own, but come next day, it’s a different story altogether. Champagne can get you intoxicated easily and you’ll be nursing a nasty hangover the next day. This is because the carbon dioxide in Champagne accelerate the rate at which alcohol is assimilated into your body. So it’s wiser to limit yourself to two glasses and always share the bottle of bubbles!
ICYM: 7 Easy Prosecco Cocktail Recipes For You To Dabble With At Home
Wine
A chilled glass of pinot grigio is safer than merlot if you’re looking forward to the next day. This is because the darker the wine, the more congeners it has which makes it difficult for the body to metabolize so it’ll give you a bad hangover.
However, this isn’t to say that you have to pour your merlot bottles down the drain. Like all good things in life, the key is moderation. Drink slowly, stay hydrated and have a good meal to go with tipple will keep the hangover at bay.
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