Fact or fiction: beer after wine causes misery
‘Beer after wine causes misery and wine after beer brings cheer,’ you’ve probably heard the saying before. Is your friends’ warning at the pub justified, or can you drink the two beverages in any order?
Getting drunk for a study doesn’t sound all that unpleasant. For this American study, around three hundred brave volunteers were given enough alcohol to get drunk in order to investigate what causes a worse hangover: beer after wine, or wine after beer? The result: contrary to the saying, the researchers concluded that there was no difference in hangovers. According to the study, ‘beer after wine causes misery’ is therefore complete nonsense.
Higher alcohol percentage?
Is the hangover from wine worse than that from beer because of its higher alcohol percentage? We asked Niels Bom from the Trimbos Institute’s Alcohol and Drugs department. He emphasizes that the alcohol concentration of a drink has no influence on how severe the hangover is. “Wine doesn’t get you drunk faster than beer. What does matter is the amount of alcohol consumed. So if you often suffer from hangovers, perhaps drink a little less.” Although with Carnival just around the corner, that’s rather difficult.
