Hair of the Dog Drinks: What People Order the Morning After, and Why It Doesn't Fix Anything

Eleven a.m. Sunday brunch shift. Sunglasses indoors at table six. A guy in last night’s shirt points at the menu without reading it and croaks, “Hair of the dog.”

I heard that order hundreds of times. I never once asked which drink he meant. I just made a Bloody Mary. Nine times out of ten that was right.

So here’s what people mean when they say it. And the part nobody at table six wants to hear.

It doesn’t cure anything

A hangover peaks as your blood alcohol falls back toward zero. Drink again and you push that moment later. You feel better for an hour or two. Then the bill comes due, and now it’s bigger.

There’s a theory about methanol, a trace compound in some drinks. Your liver deals with ethanol first and puts the methanol on hold, so another round delays its nasty byproducts. Fine. That’s a snooze button, not a cure.

What actually works is boring. Water. Food with some salt and fat in it. Sleep. Time. I’ve watched a lot of hungover people at a lot of brunches. The ones who ordered eggs and a big water before the Bloody Mary looked human by noon. The ones who ordered two Bloody Marys and no food were back at the bar by three, and not in a good way.

One more thing. If you need a drink every morning just to feel normal, that’s not a hangover. That’s something to talk to a doctor about.

Okay. Lecture over. Here’s what people drink anyway.

The Bloody Mary and its cousins

This is the hair-of-the-dog drink. Salty, savory, cold, kind of a meal. Our Bloody Mary is an ounce and a half of vodka, three ounces of tomato juice, lemon, Worcestershire and a few dashes of Tabasco with a lime wedge. Nothing fancy. If you want to go deep on the build, we wrote up our perfect Bloody Mary recipe separately.

Swap the vodka for tequila and it’s a Bloody Maria. I like it better. Tequila’s earthiness stands up to tomato in a way vodka never does.

Canadians drink the Bloody Caesar instead. Vodka, Clamato, Worcestershire, Tabasco, celery salt and pepper. Clam juice sounds like a dare. But Clamato is tomato cut with clam broth, so it drinks thinner and brinier than a Mary. Try one before you judge.

Then there’s the weird uncle. The Bullshot is vodka stirred with cold strong beef bouillon, salt and pepper. Basically soup with a kick. I made maybe three in my whole career. All three for the same retired guy.

Beer for breakfast

Some people can’t face liquor the next morning. Beer drinks are gentler. Mostly.

A Michelada is beer over ice in a mug rimmed with chili powder and salt. Lots of lime, a dash of hot sauce, a dash of Worcestershire. If any drink has earned a spot on the morning menu, it’s this one.

The Red Eye is the dive bar version. Beer, an ounce of vodka, topped with tomato juice. Sounds like a punishment, drinks fine. Cheap, too, which matters when last night already ate your wallet.

And the softest one. A Shandy is half beer, half ginger ale. Low alcohol, lots of fizz, easy on a sour stomach.

Two classics built for the morning after

The Corpse Reviver #2 has the best name in the business, and it’s honest about itself. It ran in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930 with a warning that four in a row would unrevive the corpse again. Our B and G Corpse Reviver #2 is the classic build. Equal parts gin, triple sec, Lillet Blanc and lemon juice, shaken and strained into an absinthe-rinsed coupe. Bright, tart, goes down way too easy. Craddock wasn’t kidding.

The Ramos Gin Fizz is gin, lemon, lime, egg white, cream, sugar, orange flower water and seltzer. It needs a long, hard shake. I hated getting this order at brunch. Ten of them on a ticket and my shoulder was done for the day. Tastes like a citrus cloud, though. I’ll give it that.

The drink named Hair of the Dog

We have one in the database by that exact name. The Hair of the Dog is four ounces of Scotch, two of honey and two of cream. Stir the honey into the whisky first so it doesn’t seize on the ice, then add the cream. The person who posted it says bourbon works too, and so does an ounce of cold coffee.

That’s a big pour. Four ounces of whisky is not a gentle morning. Split it into two glasses.

Funny thing about this one. Lots of people have Scotch, honey and cream in the house and never knew it added up to a drink. That’s the kind of match Cocktail Builder turns up when you type in what’s on your shelf.

Mimosas and Irish Coffee

A Mimosa is orange juice and Champagne. The juice helps a little. You get sugar and some fluid. The bubbles push the alcohol into you faster, so go slow. Our older post on brunch cocktails you need to know covers the Mimosa next to the Bloody Mary and Irish Coffee. Speaking of which, Irish Coffee at least gets caffeine into you. Whiskey, hot coffee, brown sugar, cream on top.

Quick answers

What does “hair of the dog” mean? It’s short for “hair of the dog that bit you.” The old folk remedy said to treat a dog bite with that dog’s hair. The drinking version says to treat a hangover with more of the same drink.

What’s the best hair of the dog drink? If you insist, a Bloody Mary or a Michelada. Salt, liquid and something close to food. Order a water with it.

Is there a hair of the dog drink with no alcohol? Sure. A Virgin Mary. Tomato juice, lemon, Worcestershire, Tabasco, ice. Same salt, same cold, none of the snooze button. Honestly it’s what I drank after my own bad nights behind the bar.

Last modified on October 19, 2026