A cure winner

With the party season here, Nick Yates tries the best hangover cures.

You can see the look in the customer's eyes as they order that one last drink from you. They know it is a tipple too far. They know they will regret it in the morning, but they just can't resist it anyway. And, providing they are not drunk or acting irresponsibly, you are likely to serve it to them. The result for your customer, of course, is the dreaded hangover. So can anything be done to ease, or even cure, the symptoms of the drinkers' curse?

The maker of RU-21 - a dietary supplement stocked by some licensees and designed to be taken along with alcohol - claims there is. RU-21's packaging describes the pills as "a safe and effective food supplement for consumers of alcohol, you may be thankful in the morning!" Launched in the UK just over a year ago, RU-21 was followed by a slew of imitators, including, most recently, Alco Mate, a dietary supplement released in time for the peak consumer period around Christmas.

Cocktail bar operator Living Ventures began stocking RU-21 in its outlets when it was launched. Paul Newman, Living Ventures sales and marketing director, said: "We have been trialling it, but it's not something that anybody will usually bother with. You only think about hangovers when you get them, not while you're drinking."

Of course, the only sure-fire answer to avoiding a hangover is to drink in moderation. Industry watchdog The Portman Group advises a maximum daily consumption of alcohol per day of three units (a pint and a half) for women and four units (two pints) for men. David Poley, The Portman Group's director of compliance and good practice, criticised alcohol supplements and licensees who stock them as sending out contradictory messages. "If any retailer was stocking products that are designed to cure hangovers alongside drinks, it looks pretty bad," he says.

Dr Catti Moss, of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: "There is absolutely no evidence that these products work. Ginseng and orange is very nice stuff - it's good for circulation but I'm not sure what it would do for a hangover.

"The best thing for a hangover is water, because you are dehydrated, and secondly sugar because you are hypoglycaemic, which means you have low sugar levels. Basically a good breakfast of porridge is likely to be a better hangover cure."

Nevertheless, RU-21 recently announced that it had passed the milestone of selling 10 million pills in the UK in the run-up to the new licensing regime. But does it really work? And is it an example of irresponsible marketing? With Christmas just around the corner and customers sure to indulge, or over-indulge, The Publican tested a sample of these new age hangover cures against more traditional remedies. Should you be recommending any of the following?

• RU-21​

Directions: Take two tablets prior to consuming alcohol and one tablet every hour up to a maximum of six hours​

Setting off on my noble crusade to solve the nation's morning-after ills, I first tried the front-runner in the alcohol supplement market. To truly test the cures, I needed to drink enough to feel the effects in the morning.

No irresponsible drinking here though - I settled on five pints across a night along with a meal as the scientific measure.

The pack suggests two tablets prior to consuming alcohol and one tablet every hour, so in they popped. RU-21 is basically a sugar supplement, with glucose as the main ingredient. Perhaps it was the energising effect of this that after a day's work that made me slightly giddy, at least according to my drinking buddies - sorry - "experiment assistants". I have to say, though, it had precious little effect on my hangover - it was there with a vengeance when I hit the office the following morning at 9am. My shaky hand put a question mark over alcohol supplements in my notes.

Alco Mate​

Directions: Take two capsules before drinking or when required​

Unlike RU-21, this competitor requires only one dose of two capsules per night. Mary Poppins advised that "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down", but with regards to RU-21 and Alco Mate she may have been slightly wide of the mark. The sugary RU-21 tablets had the effect of making me as hyper-lively as Dick Van Dyke, but Alco Mate's blend of ginseng and orange extract went down much more seamlessly.

It also had more of a noticeable effect on my hangover. I had the same amount of ale, in the same pub, with the same amount of fish and chips as I had with RU-21, but the morning-after was much more bearable. A mate indeed.

Prairie Oyster​

Directions: Separate one egg yolk into a glass. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a dash of Tabasco sauce, season with salt and pepper and down in one​

The very idea of a Prairie Oyster disgusted me, but Sylvester Stallone drank raw eggs in Rocky and look what it did for him.

The silky blend slithered down my throat followed by the sickeningly rich and spicy blast from the Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce. To say that the texture and flavour are an acquired taste would be understatement. It completely took away my slight feeling of alcohol-induced nausea, overridden by a far more powerful feeling of sickness. I just about resisted the urge to vomit and vowed never to try the Prairie Oyster hangover cure again.

Hair of the Dog​

Directions: Fill a glass with ice. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a dash of Tabasco sauce, a splash of lemon juice, one shot of vodka and top up with tomato juice. Stir and drink​

Is there any logic behind the term "hair of the dog"? Weening yourself off last night's alcohol with another small dose before going "cold turkey" seems to me to have little relation to any pooch, no matter how scraggy. After an evening drinking standard concoctions, however, something like this distinctive, zingy long drink makes a welcome wake-up call. Well, at least temporarily. As ever, the effects quickly wore off. As my body finished with the top-up of alcohol, I went right back to how I felt when I got out of bed.

Great British Breakfast​

Directions: Fry bacon, sausages, an egg and a few tomatoes in a non-stick pan. Heat up some baked beans. Pour on toast and eat​

Everyone loves a good cooked breakfast. Making one when alcohol-sozzled, however, is another matter. This is where licensees can step in. The cooked breakfast is an opportunity to direct your customers right back into the pub and improve your early afternoon trade. My final cure was by far the most effective and it worked so well in fact that I felt well enough to go back to the pub again that evening - and the cycle began all over again.

After my odyssey of the Optic, all in the name of science, I discovered that the likes of RU-21 and Alco Mate do have an effect. While RU-21 did not really do the trick in this case, any doubts about the tablets being a mere placebo were dismissed. If promoted along with the usual responsible drinking policies, it would seem difficult to criticise alcohol supplements as truly morally reprehensible.

We all know many customers will over-indulge this Christmas. The answer then is striking a balance and, as always, encouraging your customers to drink in moderation.

And whatever the cure, there's no harm in trying to beat the hangover.