Most of us have been there – waking up the morning after with a nasty hangover. The way to avoid this is by choosing the best alcohol for no hangover the next time you plan on enjoying a few cocktails.
Those awful hangover symptoms, like pounding headaches, sensitivity to light, nausea & digestive issues, dehydration, and zero energy, can be avoided, or at least minimized, by avoiding the worst alcoholic drinks for hangovers and also keeping a few things in mind when you walk up to the bar to order your drink.
Key Takeaways
- You can enjoy alcohol without a hangover!
- The best drinks are those with lower alcohol content and feature vodka or other light-colored spirits.
- White wine and light beers are other drinks that are good for avoiding hangovers. Red wine is not a good no-hangover alcohol.
- The best way to prevent a hangover is to pace yourself, stay hydrated, and drink responsibly!
What Causes a Hangover
The obvious answer here is that drinking alcohol causes a hangover, but the real answer is more complex than that. Some people can down drinks like they’re in a drinking competition at a frat party and not feel anything the next day, while someone else will have one glass of red wine and wake up with a pounding headache, so what gives?
First, everyone is different in their tolerance for alcohol and how they metabolize it. Second, during the alcohol fermentation process, a byproduct called congeners is produced.
Common congeners are basically impurities that give booze its unique flavors. The more congeners an alcohol has, the more likely it is to produce hangover symptoms.
On the flip side, extensive evidence tells us that alcoholic drinks with fewer congeners will lessen hangover severity.
In addition to congeners, factors like dehydration, sleep disturbances, and your body’s process of detoxifying itself also play a role in how you feel the next day.
Best Alcohol If You Want To Be Hangover-Free
Generally speaking, light-colored spirits are significantly less likely to make your hangover unbearable. Clear alcohol has the lowest level of congeners and usually produces the fewest hangover symptoms. The overall consensus is that vodka is your best bet for a hangover-free morning.
Vodka mixed with a little tonic is an alcoholic beverage that should rank pretty low on the hangover scale, as would be vodka mixed with water to dilute it a bit. Plus, both of these qualify as a low-cal drinks if you’re watching your diet.
There are some mixed theories out there about whether mixing vodka with sugary drinks ups the chances of a hangover.
There’s one school of thought that says sugary mixers and alcohols that have a higher sugar content produce more severe hangover symptoms. On the other hand, science says maybe not so much.
Our take on this is if you notice that drinking sugary concoctions or alcohol with a higher sugar content fuels your hangover, then look for lower-sugar, or no-added-sugar, alternatives to play it safe.
The quality of alcohol also seems to matter. So, if you’re going with vodka, choose a good alcohol brand for the best drink with less chance of a nasty hangover.
The Runner-Ups
As mentioned, any type of alcohol that’s lighter in color is going to have fewer congeners than darker-colored spirits. Along with vodka, light rum, and gin have fewer congeners. Although, gin seems to be a bit more problematic for some.
So, a good rule of thumb is to think lighter when it comes to alcoholic beverages to avoid hangovers. If you want wine, white wine is better than red. If you’re a fan of beer, light beer is going to be better than stout.
How to Avoid a Bad Hangover
Of course, the best way to avoid a hangover is to also avoid drinking too much alcohol. However, that can be subjective. Too much might equal two drinks for one person and five drinks for another.
While we mentioned that sugar is debatable when it comes to hangovers, you still might want to avoid sugary drinks with sweet mixers – even if the added sugar doesn’t seem to affect you.
The sweetness can easily conceal how much alcohol is really in the drink and make it easy to overconsume, thanks to the milder flavor. This is a recipe for a terrible hangover!
Next, pace yourself. If you know you’re going to be indulging in more than one or two drinks, slow your pace to one cocktail, beer, or glass of wine per hour. This is the rate at which your body can efficiently metabolize alcohol and the safest way to ensure a headache-free morning.
Keep in mind alcohol content matters too. It doesn’t help much if that one drink per hour you consume is a cocktail with a triple shot of cheap vodka. One drink should equal 1.5 ounces of hard liquor, 5 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer.
Finally, hydrate! To reduce hangover symptoms, sip a glass of water with each cocktail. If you want to take it easy but don’t want to look like you’re not partaking, the water looks a lot like ethanol alcohol. Fake it by adding a lemon or lime to your glass and say you’re sipping on a martini.
It’s also worth mentioning that if you have severe hangovers, even when drinking just a small amount of alcohol, you might be experiencing allergic reactions instead.
What NOT To Drink
An important rule to remember is that a high concentration of congeners equals more pain and nasty symptoms the next morning. Alcoholic beverages made with dark liquors are known for leading to a worse hangover, especially if you overindulge.
Types of alcohol that are high in congeners are those with a dark color, typically acquired through the aging process in wood casks. Think along the lines of whiskey, bourbon, scotch, dark rum, and gold tequila. Red wines are also a culprit, as are dark beers.
FAQs
Which alcohol has the least hangover?
Generally speaking, vodka, light rums, gin, white wine, and light beers are the best bets for reducing hangovers, thanks to the fact that they don’t have high congeners.
Is there a new alcohol that doesn’t give you a hangover?
There are synthetic alcohols, which are said to be available in the next few years, that not only will leave you free of hangovers but also not have the same damaging effects on the liver.
How can I drink without getting a hangover?
Drink light-colored spirits, such as vodka, light rums, or something like a white wine. Avoid whiskey and darker-colored spirits. Also, pace yourself at one drink per hour and stay hydrated.
Is tequila or vodka better for no hangover?
Vodka is generally considered better for no hangover over tequila, but that might be because darker tequilas are often tossed into the mix. Light-colored spirits are generally best for minimizing hangovers.
