Sunday, February 8, 2009

Hangover Proof


The first night I moved I enjoyed a Boulevard Wheat and never turned back.  Why? 

Jims Hangover

It is well know in my old stomping grounds that I have serious hangover problems.  I mean out for a day or two type of hangover.  Not moving from the couch, wailing out loud, half-dead type of hangover.  Not so, apparently, when enjoying a drunk night on Boulevard Wheat.
I got pretty drunk that first night.  Plenty drunk enough to have an aching hangover. Instead, I woke up completely fine and appropriately attributed it to having lots of water the day before. I was excited to explore the neighborhood so the next night I went out again. Because I enjoyed the Wheat so much the night before, I ordered it again.  The next morning...  Fine.  Not even a hint of haziness.
After two weeks or so of going out and drinking with new work friends and folks around the neighborhood I noticed I hadn't even a notion of a hangover since the move.  I began to connect the dots and realized that this Boulevard Wheat may have special powers. So I decided to test it. The next time I went out I drank one of my old stand-bys, Miller Lite.  I didn't even drink that much.  Hangover. Even though my head throbbed my eyes were wide open.  I had made a huge discovery.  Time to test it on others.
Luckily the next weekend I had some friends in town (to be discussed on a future post) and one of them took the challenge.  Two nights and two mornings later he had the same verdict.  It was a miracle.
Henceforth I drank and continue to drink Boulevard Wheat whenever it is available which, lucky for me, is almost everywhere in St Louis.  Unfortunately for the rest of the country, according to Boulevard's website you may not find it outside of the Midwest.  I don't recall ever seeing it in Chicago but I may be wrong.
Here's the other good news.  It's effing delicious.  It's light without being too crisp.  It's slightly sweet without being thick and sticky.  It has a subtle aftertaste and isn't filling.  Truth be told I'd be drinking it even without the magical anti hangover abilities.  
On the downside, I may be drinking beer a whole lot more.  Work will likely suffer.

Note:
For some actual proof of why Boulevard Wheat may be less hangover inducing there is an interesting article on beer types and hangover correlations here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Send some up here.

Anonymous said...

Great article on Acetaldehyde...here is the Material Safety Dat Sheet...note: Harmful or fatal if swallowed..LOL

http://gis.wvdep.org/tri/cheminfo/msds122.txt

David P

Anonymous said...

Now that you are in St. Louis you should a Schlaflay beer...they have an unfilitered wheat hefewezian you may like.

http://www.schlafly.com/beers.shtml

Jim Barnthouse said...

Thanks Teresa. I will give that a try. I'd rather support a local brew anyway.