By: Cormac Duncan [2002-02-11]

Being a Theory on the Hang-Over and its Cause

besides the furry teeth I don't really have much evidence of this

Christmas, being just past, has left me with a somewhat debilitated system due to a surfeit of parties and dead geese. Not that it wasn't fun at the time, but I got some rotten hangovers.

Know that cheap beer you get in Lidl? Very tasty but lacking in essential minerals and vitamins, or something. It's odd that I can never nip the hangovers in the bud, though - preempt them, as it were, because the parties that lead to them always unfold the same way. We all agree to meet up in someone's gaff on Saturday, upon which day someone suddenly says "Are yez coming down the pub to watch the match?"

Munster v Leinster? No way we could miss that! Getting a couple in before kickoff means we've to be in the pub by two, so, there we are, drinking already, at two. By six we've won and we decide to stay for a couple more before eating so I go up and get a round. As soon as I get back to the table someone else gets back from the bog and, not realising I've already done the honours, goes and gets another round.

Which takes us smoothly to about seven. Feeding time at the zoo. Except we've all left our beer back in our places of abode, about half an hour away. i.e. a round trip of about an hour and a half to get beer and go to the party. Grab a burger on the way and off we go to fetch beer. Also hipflask.

And so to the party. The usual sleazy affair. We try to embarrass the young wans but they're wise to us at this stage. Certain unnamed individuals try their trick with the pint glass and the vodka and get the stuff everywhere, turning themselves into a fire hazard. Luckily he's too soggy to burn. I tell everyone to read my rants on thingsihate (Hooray!). Then it's time to sing songs.

We're just finished "Goodnight Sweetheart" and "Il Bianco" when I realise I'm out of booze. Disaster! What do I do? At this point some wee voice in my head points out that I've got a hipflask full of Black Bush in my pocket. Of course! Open open. Swig stuff. Ah yes, now I remember. It's not Black Bush. It's about half and half Watt'ngeist and Black Seal Rum. Aah. That'll put hairs on yer teeth, me hearties!

And so the merry night is whiled away until we all collapse. The next day I wake up feeling rotten. And why is this? I'll tell you why. I have this theory, you see: distilleries are all infested by gerbils!

Yes indeed, gerbils. They run about the place in their little gerbilly way and lay their eggs in the maturing casks, whence they get into all the bottles of spirit (except blended scotch which is made of industrial effluent and isn't matured).

When you drink the stuff the eggs get in under your tongue and behind your teeth and while you sleep all the little furry gerbils hatch out and run around your mouth leaving fluff everywhere. (Also a funny taste but we won't go into that.) Sometimes they even run down into your stomach instead of out your mouth and you can feel them running about in there for hours before they succumb to the acid. Besides the furry teeth I don't really have much evidence of this but the cat always looks very pleased with itself when I'm hungover.

Gerbils seem to be allergic to chicken quick soup. It cures a hangover in no time.
Fur of the Frog [2002-02-11 00:24:02] Jacques Kitsch
There must be a thousand hangover remedies. I like the two shot glass method whereby one shot glass has a raw egg with salt and Tabasco, and the other shot glass has whiskey; first the egg then the whiskey. Also, the red-eye seems to work somewhat, beer and tomato juice half and half. I think that the latter methood works because of replacing depleted salts. Usually, a couple of beers, or the last couple of fingers in the jug chase the fantods. There is a waterfront bar in Tiburon, California where the serious drinkers gather of a Sunday morning for the famous "Ramos Fiz"
"By the time of Prohibition, Vella's place on Main Street had become a center of bootlegging activity, with liquor being dropped off from boats on the water's edge behind the café. In 1960, Sam retired and returned to his native Malta a rich man. During our night at Sam's, the only waterfront activity we could see, in a nighttime sky luminated by the San Francisco skyline, were several kayakers coming back to shore. Sam's popular menu has a mix of fish, seafood and meat. The Grilled Porcini Crust Wild Sturgeon with caramelized shallot vinaigrette, baked polenta and winter vegetables ($17.95) is memorable. In the summer, there's plenty of patio seating dockside.
The memories of Prohibition, I found, still linger at Sam's in the "Ramos Fiz," whose ingredients were divulged, so the story goes, in retaliation against the feds. Here's the recipe, for those of you adventuresome types:
1 ½ ounce of gin.
4 ounces of cream
½ ounce of lemon juice
½ ounce of limejuice
1 fresh egg
1 tablespoon of simple syrup
3 to 4 drops of Orange Flower Water

Add to blender and then add a splash of soda and a dash of nutmeg."
"Water's Edge"

Big greasy mountains [2002-02-11 03:01:40] Dunc
I've never really had the nerve to try some of the more interesting hangover cures. They all seem so revolting. Quicksoup, though, is definitely replacement therapy, containing (as it does) salt, sugar, water, fat and yellow chemicals. What actually works best is a big greasy fry followed by climbing a mountain. (Note for americans and south germans: you probably call them hills. Note for people whose highes mountain is 40 feet - Norderstedt - but who call ours hills anyway: fuck off!)
Also... [2002-02-11 03:11:05] Dunc
I never realised I got so terse when my temperature got over 39. I tell this one better when its subject is less immediate, I think.
Best hangovers... [2002-02-11 04:12:23] Wakboth
...are to be gained from drinking pine-tar flavored vodka.

Lovely stuff, but the aftereffects include seriously horrible hangover and a breath that smells like a forest fire.

Pine Tar [2002-02-11 10:03:57] Jacques Kitsch
Not had pine tar Vodka, sounds like Retsina Greek wine. The Mexicans make a kind of pine tar Tequila, but the tamarind flavoured Tequila is pretty good. Excellent hangovers may be obtained from Gusano Rojo (Red Worm) mezcal with extra worm salt, and from Flor de Caña, 94.6%, 189.2°, sugar cane alcohol.
That's a lot of gerbils. [2002-02-11 12:17:17] Jonas
I don't think they lay eggs tho. Then there's the story of a woman who masturbated with a lobster and, in its confused and frenzied state, laid its eggs in her, etc. Sound like jobs for the Crocodile Hunter!
lobster [2002-02-11 14:15:02] staniel
I don't know if Snopes has gotten ahold of that yet, but I assure you it's untrue. (it was a jumbo shrimp)

Does pine tar vodka mean gin? Gin will do you some harm. The aromatics it's flavored with are hard on a lot of people.
Seafood&Gerbils [2002-02-11 15:28:48] Jacques Kitsch
I'd heard it was a lobster, also; but the Snopes version kind of includes a lobster and mud shrimp. Gin has junniper berries, and junniper berries are also used in general cooking as a flavouring, so I' don't think that they are too toxic. "Snopes2"
Junniper for flavouring? [2002-02-11 16:32:55] Jonas
I thought junniper smells like cat pee? Or maybe that's just the junniper 'round here.
Lobster [2002-02-11 16:33:52] Sean
I've never heard that rumor. You guys are making that up.

Lobster&Junniper [2002-02-11 16:55:59] Jacques Kitsch
No, Sean, it's on the Snopes site, but listed as untrue. Click "Sex" then "Bestiality" then look for the lobster. "Susy DeLucci and the Miracle of Life. One morning around 5am 22 year old Susan DaLucci of Kittery Maine..." But junniper smells kind of like evergreen.
Juniperus communis [2002-02-11 19:10:23] Jacques Kitsch
In addition to being the berry that flavours common gin, juniper seems to be a widely used botanical.
THUJOPSENE [2002-02-11 19:19:56] Jacques Kitsch
Juniper contains thujopsene, I wonder if that isn't similar to thujone...
Turps [2002-02-12 02:36:37] Dunc
The pine tar vodka is some wierd slovak stuff. It's not flavoured with it but distilled from it - ie. it's basically turpentine. I forget the name. Borovice or Hryskevic or something (unless that was the pear one). Pretty foul anyway. Can anyone else (besides the unnamed individual) get their mouth right around the top of a pint glass and drink the contents with no hands?
koan [2002-02-12 04:42:19] Lou Duchez
If you use another living creature for masturbatorial purposes and it happens to achieve whatever sexual climax it is capable of, is it masturbation or is it bestiality?
Herps&Turps [2002-02-12 04:59:14] Jacques Kitsch
There was a recent article in the Manchester Guardian about not only invitro fertilization, but exutero incubation; i.e., growing new people in plastic bags. The more that I learn of people's sexual habits, the more pedestrian my own activities seem, other than excessive appetite. It turns out that juniper and sage both have thujone, as does absinthe, and that thujone is a kind of turp similar to THC. Retsina is sometimes called, "Wood Nymph Tears." Happy "Fat Tuesday!" I may write about a pair of Dolce&Gabbana shoes; they are the longest, pointiest shoes that I've ever seen!
Gin is bad, too, but this could be worse.... [2002-02-12 05:37:54] Wakboth
For the people with strong constitution and no friends, I suggest onion spirits.

The recipe: Chop two medium-sized onions (seasoned users may add garlic) into small pieces and pour unflavored grain (or potato or industrial non-denatured) alcohol on them. Let it stew in a cold place for a week or so. Drink. Exhale and watch the grass wither.

Hot Tip:
Eat red beets before going on a binge. Creates really spectacular visual effects when you eventually puke! (Warning: May get you into an emergency room in no condition to explain the joke.)
Pickled Beets [2002-02-12 07:09:23] Jacques Kitsch
I like pickled beets, but once I ate a bunch of them, got drunk, and forgot about it. Then the next day, I thought that I'd had a shit hemorrhage, and a moment of panic until I remembered the beets. On barfing: there's a Roaring Twenties bar with ladies swinging from the ceiling on trapezes, and they give out lots of free salty peanuts to encourage beer drinking by the pitchur. Horking peanut butter is no fun.
Wizz for beetroots [2002-02-12 07:17:33] Dunc
Wakboth, You must be a fellow Irishman! Your weird sense of humour betrays you.
Com pletely off-topic, but [2002-02-12 11:34:28]
the followers of Pete must be told of this wonderful rabbit-meat related place

http://www.styledeficit.com/bunny/index.html
Drunk Rabbit [2002-02-12 23:30:47] Jacques Kitsch
To combine things and bring them back on-topic, "Drunk Rabbit"
[2002-02-24 13:55:40] Aye Kent Speel
The best way to cure a hangover? Stay drunk!
Wow [2004-01-19 11:50:00] Sam
Strangely I found your site while looking for an old legend about a girl who had a love afair with a lobster. I'd have to say that thingsihate is far more entertaining.
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