Okay, so the headline of this piece was a tad misleading because the only way to truly cure a hangover is to let the alcohol work its way naturally out of your system. But since lying around while your body carries out its fitful wrath on you is sometimes tortuous, I want to tell you that there are a few things you can do to at least feel better in the meantime.  I know because as I write this, I admit I am a tad bit hungover (it can inadvertently happen to the best of us!). But luckily my hangover remedy of choice was at my fingertips this week while I’m on a spa vacation with my mom: 15 minutes in a hot steam room. The high temperatures are said to help metabolize alcohol faster, and you can purge some of those toxins through sweating. Most importantly, you’re able to relax, easing the mind and body. Taking deep breaths of the steam instantly revives me, even from fatigue, as long as I drink a lot of water afterwards.

Of course there are more practical hangover remedies: you can drink a ginger, apple, orange and carrot juice. Carrots are packed with beta-carotene that is converted into vitamin A by your body. Ginger is a natural cure for an upset tummy. The apples, while acidic, cut the carrots’ bitterness and ginger’s sourness. The orange contains vitamin C, which stimulates the liver to break down alcohol.

You can take a hot shower, which increases your circulation and soothe you. Or you can wash out your mouth with room temperature water, which will cure the dryness in your mouth without upsetting your stomach. You can also drink coconut water, a clear liquid extracted from young coconuts that is high in electrolytes like potassium and sodium, which are great replacements for fluids lost from alcohol.

Finally, you can also have a little hair of the dog. But first, what does ‘hair of the dog’ mean, anyway? The phrase dates back to Roman times and stems from a superstition that if someone was bitten by a mad dog, they should pluck a hair from the tail of the dog and burn it. The hair was then placed inside the wound to avoid rabies, or crushed into a drink. But now “hair of the dog” means to have some more of what gave you the hangover, i.e. the dog that “bit” you.

To get the scoop on liquid hangover cures, I turned to Caroline Blundell, the bar manager of Ripple in DC’s Cleveland Park neighborhood. She recommended a few familiar tipples (you can remember these as the three M’s), but the reasoning behind them may surprise you a little:

Michelada

A traditionally Guatemalan drink, this classic contains just a tad bit of alcohol with the beer, and the tomato juice contains vitamins and nutrients that are a good substitute for a meal you might not be in the mood for.

4 oz tomato juice

1/2 tsp Cholula (Mexican hot sauce)

1/2 tsp red pepper

4 oz Tecate beer

salt and pepper to taste

This is a base recipe! Feel free to play around with it to adjust it to your preferred level of spice. Rim a Collins glass with a mixture of salt and espelette pepper (to get it to stick rub a lime wedge around the rim first). Fill the glass with ice and stir all ingredients with it except the beer. Top the drink with the beer at the end.

The Michelada

Margarita

Caroline uses orange juice in this recipe to get her punch of vitamin C. She also likes tequila the day after a hangover because she says it contains more simple sugars than other spirits, so it is easier for your body to break down. This is great news for your bod, which is probably trying to process all of the Irish soda bread and yeasty beer you had last night. Caroline also says she believes tequila helps with digestion.

1 1/2 oz blanco tequila

3/4 oz agave nectar

1/2 oz lemon juice

1/2 oz lime juice

1/2 oz orange juice

Shake all ingredients with ice in a shaker and pour over fresh ice into a rocks glass.

Caroline Blundell
Photo by Elizabeth Parker Photographie

Moscow Mule

For a TRUE hangover cure, a dash of bitters has been added here for the medicinal herbs and bark they are made up of. This drink is typically made with lime juice, but the combination of lemon and ginger is much more soothing on the stomach.

1 1/2 oz vodka, such as Deep Eddy for its “clean” flavor

1/2 oz lemon juice

Ginger beer, such as Fentimans

Dash of Angostura bitters

Shake all ingredients except the ginger beer in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a Collins glass with fresh ice. Top with the ginger beer.

This incredibly delectable sandwich below is just to make you jealous. Don’t worry, I am too. But seriously, it was so pretty I just had to post it. Called the Code-ster, it is a hangover favorite on Ripple’s Sunday brunch menu. A heap of fried chicken thigh, sausage gravy, fried egg, cheddar and biscuit goodness. I’ll take it with a Michelada, please.

The Code-ster brunch biscuit at Ripple in DC

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