The Hair of the Dog
A restorative post for the morning after…
Last night was spent drinking my way from the top of Lincoln’s Bailgate, down the high street, across to the Brayford quay and back again. That was some trek, I felt like Edmund Hilary. My ‘Sherpa Tensing’ on this particular expedition was a fellow former Grimbarian turned Lincoln Imp called Superglaze who did a marvellous job of chosing the cheapest pubs to go in on his round.
As with all good nights out there is always the next day. I am not as good with ‘the morning after’ as I used to be. In my younger days drinking was considered an extension of your shift and a pint an extension of your arm.
Upon waking I thought of Bertie Wooster and wished I had a Jeeves to bring me one of his ‘bracers’ to bring me back to the land of the living. Munching on my muesli I wondered how anyone could drink an alcoholic ‘restorative’ in the morning. I cannot face alcohol before 8pm at the earliest so I stuck to the tried and trusted water and green tea to restore normal liver function.
There are those who swear by a nip of something strong to aid recovery,the ‘hair of the dog’ saying goes back many years to the original saying of ‘the hair of the dog that bit you’ where strands of hair taken from whichever dog bit you was said to help heal the wound. Consequently, a shot of whatever it was that you were drinking the night before would help to bring you back to your senses.
So what goes into these bracers?, the celebrated chef, Fergus Henderson suggests a glass of two parts Fernet Branca to one part creme de menthe, I’ll take his word for it. There is a cocktail called the hair of the dog, take two shots of whisky, one and a half shots of double cream and a shot of honey and shake the lot over ice. Just give me the whisky!
Upon further research I came across one after my own heart, a BMW! Equal shots of Baileys, Malibu and Whisky. I can’t think what that must taste like, let alone do to you. If you have any calming restoratives then I would be glad to know them.
The answer to avoiding hangovers is not to stop drinking !
You never get hungover whilst drinking, it is only after you’ve stopped.
Thankfully I don’t suffer like this, perhaps it’s practice in my case
I was happily drinking till 3am this morning and was up and about 4.5 hours later !
On a more practical note: ditch that green tea !
PG Tips and fully skimmmed milk will stand you in much better stead.
Prost
Rod
September 9, 2007 @ 9:06 am
Rod,
Phew! not sure a ‘working’ man could keep that up! Sounds like you’ve been reading too many rock autobiographies!
Miles
September 9, 2007 @ 9:25 am
Miles,
What is a hangover? Is it dehydration? Perhaps you could order a pint of water to accompany each beer … at the end of the night you may have consumed 20 pints and spent most of the evening in the mens powder room, but the following day be bright eyed and bushy tailed
I’m not sure I like the sound of the people you’re ‘hanging’ with … as one of Lincolnshire’s cultural assets, they should be protecting your liver at all costs!
You tell ‘em if they mess with you they face the wrath of El Cid!
Cid
p.s. who’s this Rod bloke … fat lot of good his advice’ll do you. Stick with the women!
September 9, 2007 @ 10:07 am
Sounds like you’ve been reading too many rock autobiographies!
Dude !
I’m not reading about it - I’m livin’ the dream
September 9, 2007 @ 11:26 am
Cid,
I am begining to have doubts about inviting Miles to our Haloween bash-should we bring a dog just in case?
September 9, 2007 @ 4:08 pm
Christine,
I was looking forward to lobster and monkfish kebabs and choccy truffles. It just won’t be the same without him!
If all else fails, I’ve got a cardboard cut out of Daniel Craig … will he do?
Cid
September 9, 2007 @ 7:55 pm
Cid,
I would happily swap a kebab for Daniel Graig, cardboard or otherwise!
Christine
September 9, 2007 @ 8:07 pm
I think its the “Hangover” that stopped - stops me from drinking. Every time I think or talk about alcohol the first thing that comes to mind is the morning after and one hell of an Hangover. Though I must admit it take a while for me to realise that to avoid a hangover, all I had to do was not drink.
September 10, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
SC,
Stopping drinking to avoid hangovers, that’s the bugger about it!
Miles
September 10, 2007 @ 7:18 pm