Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

The best vodka and vodka mixers for no hangover

The best hangover cure is to never get one in the first place

Emily Caldwell
By
Cold cocktail with lime, lemon, tonic, vodka and ice on vintage background
Pcholik / Shutterstock

Hangover side effects are unpleasant in every sense of the word, leaving us feeling unproductive and even sick the night after drinking. Most of us know drinking too much will lead to a hangover, but did you know the type of alcohol you drink and the mixer used can also contribute to the severity of your hangover? Carefully selecting the type of liquor you consume and opting for specific mixers can help you feel your best after drinking. Here’s why vodka might be the smartest choice for no hangover symptoms.

Shelves of vodka
Carlos Irineu da Costa / Unsplash

Why vodka is the best liquor choice to avoid hangovers

While a hangover is nearly impossible to avoid if you drink too much, even moderate or casual drinking can lead to hangovers, too. No matter what your alcohol drink preferences are, it might be worth considering a switch to high-quality vodka if you’re looking to minimize hangover effects. All types of alcohol contain ethanol. However, the differing fermentation and distilling processes of every alcohol can leave every kind of liquor with different chemicals remaining. The substances created as a byproduct of the fermentation process are known as congeners.

Recommended Videos

What do congeners do to the body?

Unfortunately, however, some types of alcohol are left with more congeners than others, resulting in worsened next-day hangover symptoms. Like ethanol, your body must also work to break down the congeners in the drinks you consume. If you’ve ever noticed tequila seems to lead to a worse hangover, it might be because tequila is a type of alcohol that is higher in congeners. Our bodies are left trying to break down two substances at once, which makes each process less efficient. In turn, this is why consuming alcoholic drinks that are high in congeners can lead to a worsened hangover.

Related

Which types of alcohol are lowest in congeners?

A comprehensive study performed in 2013 explored the amount of congeners in many types of alcohol, including all liquors. The results of this study found that vodka was the option that had the least congeners per serving. But this doesn’t mean that vodka can’t give you a hangover; instead, it just means that it is less likely. Furthermore, the more times it is distilled in the production process, the more congeners will be removed. For this reason, choosing a high-quality vodka brand can help you reduce your chances of a hangover even more.

Gin vodka tonic lime cocktail drink ice
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Our favorite vodka brands for no hangovers

Selecting a trustworthy vodka brand that has been distilled several times can help limit your hangover symptoms. While the price may be tempting, bottom-shelf vodka should be avoided whenever possible. Here are our favorite, reputable vodka brands worth a try.

Grey goose

Grey Goose is one of the most well-known vodka brands, and for good reason. Made from French wheat, Grey Goose vodka is distilled five times to ensure its quality. This brand also has many great varieties, like the Le Citron Grey Goose.

Ketel 0ne

Ketel One offers premium vodkas made from wheat grain. This brand uses multiple types of distillations, helping to reduce the total amount of congeners remaining.

Belvedere

Belvedere offers one of the highest-quality vodkas on the market with zero additives. For clarity and purity, this brand distills its vodka four times.

Ciroc

Ciroc vodka is clear and smooth, made from fine French grapes. Each product is five times distilled, making it a great option to limit your hangover symptoms.

Absolut

Absolut vodka is a high-quality, top-shelf option that comes at a fairly affordable price. You can find this brand almost everywhere, and it’s made with a continuous distillation process that offers the best quality.

A vodka drink
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Best vodka mixers

In selecting the best vodka to reduce hangovers, let’s not forget the importance of the mixer you use to create your drink. Using sugary alcohol mixers such as full-sugar fruit juice, soda, or pre-made alcohol mixers can leave you with worsened hangover symptoms from too much sugar. (If you’ve ever had a sugar headache, you’re likely to be acquainted with this feeling already.) When selecting drinks, choose drinks made with diet sodas or lower-sugar fruit juices. Jordan’s Skinny Mixes offers dozens of great flavors of mixers that contain virtually no sugar at all.

Two espresso martinis sitting next to a bottle of grey goose.
Grey Goose

The bottom line

While you’re unlikely to give up drinking everything but vodka, opting for vodka whenever possible can help you reduce next-day hangover symptoms. Choosing high-quality distilled brands of vodka and mixers that are low in sugar can also help you feel your best after a night out on the town.

Editors' Recommendations

Emily Caldwell
Emily Caldwell
Contributor
Emily is a full time freelance writer with a special focus on health, fitness, lifestyle, food, and nutrition topics. She…
How to make The Last Word cocktail, a gin classic from another era
Impress your guests and make this circa 1916 drink
Last Word cocktail

Gin often plays a prominent role within classic cocktail culture. Such is the case with The Last Word cocktail, a delightful green concoction enlivened by the aromatic clear spirit. It's a cocktail that has practically lived two lives: one as it was born during the heyday of early 20th-century American bar life and another that started about two decades ago.

How did it come about? Drinks folklore says The Last Word was devised by Frank Fogarty at the Detroit Athletic Club circa 1916. Oddly enough, Fogarty was not a bartender but an award-winning vaudeville comedian. Regardless of his progression, he came up with a damn good cocktail that uses some rather obscure ingredients.

Read more
Gose-style beers are perfect for spring, and these are our favorites
This salty, tart, sour beer is perfect for spring.
Gose beer

As we mentioned in an earlier post, the Gose style might be the best beer choice for spring and summer drinking. This wheat beer is top-fermented and gets a second fermentation with lactobacillus bacteria. This gives it a tart, sour flavor profile similar to your favorite sour ale. The addition of coriander and sea salt adds some spice and salinity to this very unique, refreshing beer.

On top of that, this tart, salty thirst-quencher is usually between 4-5% ABV. This results in a crushable, salty, crisp beer you won’t be able to put down even between horseshoe throws or cornhole turns.
A strange, salty history

Read more
How to craft a heavenly vodka martini: Shaken or stirred
We know James Bond likes his vodka martini shaken, not stirred, how do you like yours?
Vodka martini with olives in a martini glass

 

The martini is an iconic cocktail, with millions being poured since its inception. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was known to down martinis, as did legendary author Ernest Hemingway and the greatest spy of all time, James Bond, who famously liked his vodka martini shaken, not stirred. As you can see from Bond's specifications, there is more than one way to make a martini and crafting a martini the "proper" way is a subject of debate. Does a martini have to employ gin or vodka? Will the Martini Police pop up out of nowhere if you use vodka instead of gin?

Read more