Beer before wine ... or is it the other way around?

Beer after wine and you’ll feel fine, wine after beer and you’ll feel – or is it the other way around?

Nobody ever seems to remember how the saying goes – though that doesn’t stop people from trying. It’s one of those old adages that just won’t go away.

You’ll find versions of these wise words in various languages – German, Spanish and French – confusingly, however, they seem to differ on the crucial issue of which is the best order to drink beer and wine over an evening.

Some people swear that mixing drinks is a bad idea – some say it makes no odds. Let’s say we ignore factors such as the speed and volume of consumption, or whether you ate properly that day – could the order in which you drink something really have an effect on how bad your hangover is going to be?

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I’m guessing it would be quite difficult to reach any definitive conclusion on the issue, especially if your sources are somewhat unreliable after drinking all evening. And that’s just it – is that unwell feeling the next day just over-indulgence? Or did that big kebab you ate on the way home also have something to do with it? Or the fact that you had a row about putting the bins out and you just awoke to their lovely aroma filling your house?

But if it helps you, however, to get through your hangover by blaming that one evil glass of wine you had at the end of an evening drinking beer, then go for it.

The easiest solution is just stick to beer, of course. And preferably the good ones – like Foggy Juice,  a 6.2 per cent New England IPA from Dublin brewery Rascals. In keeping with the craft beer “haze craze” of the moment, it’s cloudy with a lovely soft body, low bitterness and a delicious tropical fruitiness.

@ITbeerista beerista@irishtimes.com