Pick Your Poison: Holiday Hangover Helpers

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HOLIDAY SOIREES mean multiple opportunities for champagne toasting, beer-drinking and wine-sipping. Although plenty of partygoers nurse intentions of staying sober on weeknights, it's this time of year when a slew of holiday happy hours and office fetes can test anyone's resolve. For those who might have one too many this holiday season, bartenders, patrons and other District residents offer advice for avoiding — or at least alleviating — that cotton-mouthed, headachy, woozy morning-after.

The first and most obvious tip is to rehydrate. "Water, water, water — and two Advil. Preferably before going to bed, but the next day as well," said Khuram Bashir, a medical assistant at Medics Primary Care on 17th Street NW in Dupont Circle. "And eat something bland, like toast." As basic as his advice may be, many people forget the bare minimum that would spare them a hazy morning.

Others suggest diner food — eggs and cheese, in particular — as the ultimate hangover helper. Tia Scagliarini, a manager at Tryst, said, "Greasy, gooey, cheesy goodness is the key to feeling better after a long night."

John Marlow, a bartender at Toledo Lounge, suggests a pizza brunch as a hangover cure-all. "Grease is the key."
"Vitamins before bed are a good idea, " said certified sommelier Derek Brown, maitre d' at Citronelle. "Vitamins" can also mean Alka-Seltzer Morning Relief or Emergen-C, the powdery packet mixed in warm water that tastes like TheraFlu. And there's always Gatorade, which some people swear by to add the salt, sugar and fluid depleted as a result of too much alcohol.

Tomato juice and V-8 were also oft-cited drinks for the day after. Yet tomato juice is a slippery slope toward the hair-of-the-dog cure. "The best thing at Tryst for a hangover is the Bloody Mary made with lots of horseradish, Old Bay and Absolut Pepper vodka," said Scagliarini. The Red Eye is another go-to quaff, at least according to Brown. "It was Hemingway's drink of choice."

This post was written by Express contributor Melissa McCart.