Hangover 3: Too Much IPA

This is what happens when you drink too much IPA.

Over the past 3 years, I’ve become a huge IPA fan. More and more craft breweries are focusing on making good IPA these days, and as that has happened, I’ve found myself trying, and enjoying, more and more of the stuff. But over time (I’m a slow learner), I’ve also discovered the unfortunate side effects of this fine brew — it packs a wallop, and I’ve found myself the victim of a series of serious hangovers. Not wake-up-in-Bangkok-missing-a-finger-with-a-literal-monkey-on-your-back hangovers, but enough to make your head pound for the better part of the day.

I still drink IPA pretty regularly, but when I do, I try to have only a couple before switching to something with a lower alcohol content (yeah, yeah, I’m a lightweight — I know).

Which leads me to Saturday night. LuLu and I were hanging with The Beer Drinker and his Special Lady. TBD cooked up some mean burgers, and had a fridge full o’ beer to choose from. Among the beers were about four different IPAs, a couple of them courtesy of Wachusett Brewery, some Red Hook Longhammer IPA, and then one of the best IPAs out there, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.

So what did I do? Yup, I drank a hell of a lot of IPA. I started with the Wachusett Publick House Larry Imperial IPA. It was damn good. Next up was Wachusetts’ regular IPA, the Green Monsta IPA. I loved that one, too. I think I liked it better then the Publick House, even though it had a lower alcohol content.

Neither could hold a candle, however, to the Dogfish Head. As I said, it’s one of the best IPAs out there, and probably one of my favorite beers in general. From there, I moved on to the Longhammer. Not the best IPA out there, but it’s solid. And you can get it pretty cheap, which is always a big deal in my book.

I did try to switch to a lighter beer at one point, trying Wachusett’s Summer Wheat Ale. But I’m not really a wheat beer kind of guy. I still have flashbacks that one time I had to drink a Bud Wheat. Ugh.

As you probably could have predicted, I woke up the next morning feeling like I had a mouth full of sand and someone was whacking me in the forehead with a sledgehammer. But hey, at least I had all my fingers.

Mr. X is a contributor to the Beer Drinking Report.