Myth or fact

Clear drinks give you smaller hangovers

Short answerYes, but

By GyroscopeUpdated November 14, 20265 sources

Yes, but only the part you feel. In a 2010 study, 95 heavy drinkers drank bourbon or vodka to the same level, and the bourbon drinkers felt worse the next morning. Alcohol cut their sleep and their next-day attention by the same amount whichever they drank.

Why do people believe it?

There’s something to it. Darker drinks like bourbon carry more congeners, the small amounts of other compounds that come from fermenting and aging. Clear drinks like vodka carry fewer. It makes sense that the extra stuff would make you feel worse, and the one good study on it agrees, up to a point.

It’s like switching from a loud alarm clock to a quiet one. Waking up feels nicer, and you got exactly the same amount of sleep.

What did the study find?

Researchers recruited 95 healthy heavy drinkers aged 21 to 33. Each came in for a drinking night on either bourbon or vodka, to the same high level, and a placebo night on another visit, in random order. They slept in the lab with their sleep recorded, and took tests of attention and speed the next morning.

After alcohol, people had more hangover, worse sleep efficiency, less REM sleep, more time awake and more sleepiness the next day, and they did worse on tests that needed sustained attention and speed. The only thing the type of drink changed was how bad the hangover felt. People felt worse after bourbon.

In the researchers’ words, congener content “affects only how people feel the next day so does not increase risk.” Worse hangovers did go along with worse test scores, so the people who felt the worst were also among the slowest.

What counts for more than the color?

The amount. In a 2019 trial of 90 people who drank beer, wine or both to the same high level, the type and order of drinks didn’t change the hangover. How drunk people felt during the evening and whether they vomited were the strongest predictors.

Color also says nothing about strength. A 1.5 oz shot of 40% vodka and a 1.5 oz shot of 40% bourbon both hold 14 g of alcohol, one US drink, according to NIAAA, and a 12 oz craft beer at 10% holds two. The clear drink in a big pour still costs you more than the dark drink in a small one.

The best case for clear drinks

“If they make the hangover smaller, isn’t that a real benefit?” It is, for how you feel. Hangovers have no proven cure, so a smaller one is welcome. A 2005 review of eight remedy trials found no convincing evidence for any of them, and a 2024 review found water during the evening only helped a little. But your sleep and your next-day focus are part of the cost too, and those were the same on vodka.

Count every drink by the pour, whatever its color. What’s in your glass does it for any drink, and Hangovers covers what helps.