How to acquire a world beating hangover

And what remedies to apply the morning after

Can you get a hangover from reading about drink?

Our round-up of the beer scene in Japan stirred a wave of nostalgia for the many wonderful beers and brewery tours I have enjoyed there in my dozen or so visits over the years. But such pleasures come at a price. The more memorable the beers, the more devastating the hangover.

There is no World Cup for hangovers, but my own chamber of horrors accommodates a big three. This trio of trembling, headaching, stomach-turning morning maladies, each wrestled with me in a different city. The runners up, Venice (Italy, not California) and Chicago, I shall describe in horrific detail on another occasion. Today, a big hand (albeit rather shaky) for Tokyo.

A Tokyo-sized hangover is a huge project. I needed an out-of-town warmup.

I started my provincial preparation at Itami, near the great port city of Osaka. I began with a drink that the world calls wine, but I regard as beer: saké.

To me, the rule is simple: if it is made from fruit, it is wine; if it is made from grain, it is beer (before you ask, fruit beers are made from grain; the cherries, raspberries or whatever are added later).

Saké is made from rice.

I had a dream-like experience at a very traditional saké brewery, Shirayuki ("White Snow of Fuji"), in Itami, near Osaka. The participants were young women, with the Oriental femininity that turns the nicest of Western men (eg. me) into sleazeballs.

They wore white linen headsquares, as though they were nurses, and had white t.....

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By Michael Jackson

Section : The Beer Hunter

Page number : 7