10 Hair of the Dog Cocktails to Kill a Hangover

Feel like a human again with these reviving concoctions, from fiery micheladas to citrusy silver fizzes.

Emily Arata

Being hungover is anathema to weekend excellence. You wake up with a mouth like the Sahara desert, drool on the pillow, and a headache that feels like a drill to the brain. Luckily, one of the most tried and true methods of combating the effects of a hangover is to dust yourself off and start drinking again. Since the 1800s, bartenders have been hard at work creating cocktails meant to ease the ache in your head and kick your ass back into gear.

Hair-of-the-dog cocktails usually contain several ingredients to get you back in fighting shape. Eggs are the most popular because they contain the protein your struggling body needs. The white goes into any “fizz” cocktail, while the yolk can be seasoned with salt and pepper to be swallowed whole. Many drinks contain fruit and vegetable juices, which inject you with vitamins and help to alleviate headaches caused by dehydration. Additionally, liquors like Fernet Branca have medicinal qualities that, even if they’ve been debunked, at least deliver bracing flavor that will help open up your bleary eyes.

To help you with your bounce-back manaveurs, we’ve searched high and low for the best hair-of-the-dog cocktails recipes so that you won’t have to hide under your covers all day. Check out our favorite pick-me-up drinks, then try to summon the strength to make one of them—you won’t regret it.

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Michelada

Ingredients: Clamato, Mexican lager, lime juice, Worcestershire, hot sauce, Maggi Seasoning, chili powder How it will help: Is your head pounding? Turn to the mighty Michelada. It's a Mexican hangover cure, similar to the Bloody Mary, but with beer in place of vodka. The taste of Clamato (tomato juice flavored with clam broth) is often described as "funky," but it's also delicious and briny. Once you taste the lime and the fiery kick from the hot sauce, you'll be right as rain. A smooth Mexican lager will make the whole think easy to drink (perhaps too easy). Get the recipe.
Electric Current Fizz

Ingredients: Lemon juice, powdered sugar, egg white, seltzer How it will help: This classic cocktail contains everything your body needs when you're hungover. The lemon is a vitamin C boost, while the egg white provides much-needed protein. The Electric Current Fizz first appeared in George Kappeler’s 1895 cocktail book, Modern American Drinks. Get the recipe.
Negroni Sbagliato

Ingredients: Campari, sweet vermouth, dry spumante, orange slice How it will help: This Negroni variation is made with sparkling wine (spumante) instead of gin, so it will quench your thirst without getting you hammered. The orange will get a little vitamin C goodness in your system, while the mix of Campari and sparkling Italian wine offers some bubbly, bracing bitterness. The recipe below comes from Bar Basso in Milan. Get the recipe.
Fernet and Coke

Ingredients: Fernet and coca-cola How it will help: Fernet is basically the hangover booze of the gods. The amaro is made with a number of herbs, roots, and spices that will help brace you and settle your stomach. It's a classic remedy from the bars of Buenos Aires, where it's stood the test of time as a head-clearing tonic. According to From Argentina with Love, Argentinians "consume more than 6.5 million bottles of it a year." The carbonation in the Coke will help settle your stomach. Get the recipe.
Fog Cutter

Ingredients: Orange juice, lemon juice, orgeat, white rum, gin, brandy, Amontillado sherry How it will help: This tiki cocktail features a combination of fresh juices that will give you a much-needed dose of vitamin C. The fortifying drink is a cult favorite, but watch out because it's seriously strong—have too many and you'll need a hangover cocktail for your hangover cocktail. Serious Eats reports that Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron, who first created the drink, said of his masterpiece, "Fog Cutter, hell—after two of these, you won't even see the stuff." Get the recipe.
Bourbon Stout Flip

Ingredients: Bourbon, coffee liqueur, spiced rum, egg white, stout How it will help: Beer cocktails are indispensable when you're battling a hangover. The egg combined with the coffee liquor, bourbon, and stout make it taste almost exactly like a milkshake. You can use Guinness in this recipe, or any of these other fabulous stouts (though you'll probably want to steer clear of the super high-alcohol ones). Get the recipe.
Silver Fizz

Ingredients: Egg white, London dry gin, lemon juice, superfine sugar, club soda How it will help: The fizz has been a hangover cocktail staple since 1895. "Before Alka-Seltzer, there was the Silver Fizz," writes drinks writer and booze historian David Wondrich. The egg white in the silver fizz provides the protein you need to feel like a human again; plus, it's super refreshing and citrusy. The New York Times recommends you save the yolk in its shell, add salt and pepper, and down it straight for an extra boost. Get the recipe.
Champagne Pick-Me-Up

Ingredients: Brandy, Fernet-Branca, curaçao, Champagne, ice How it will help: Again, we see the Italian herbal liquor Fernet-Branca as a bracing hangover remedy. The Atlantic reports that the liqueur has been used for its healthful side effects for more than 100 years. It purportedly reduces bloating and calms the stomach. Plus, who doesn't love Champagne in the morning. Get the recipe.
Relapse Cocktail

Ingredients: Hellfire bitters, dark rum, lemon juice, maple syrup How it will help: On Eatocracy, Christopher Ross sings the praises of the "Relapse cocktail," which is his own original creation. The drink is loosely based on the master cleanse (a lemon, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper detox concoction). The spicy bitters will kick you into gear, and the maple syrup makes the drink go down easy. According to Ross, "The original inspiration for this recipe was an ex-girlfriend who'd constantly try out the cleanse only to wind up drunk somewhere with nothing in her belly but booze and Master Cleanse and calling me to pick her up. Here's to you, darling." Get the recipe.
Bloody Mary

Ingredients: Vodka, tomato juice, Old Bay, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, pickle brine, lemon, horseradish How it will help: The tomato juice provides your body with potassium, while the Worcestershire and Tabasco jolt your system into functioning again. Bonus: It counts as breakfast and a hangover cure at the same time, so you can totally have four of them (just remember to drink some water alongside your cocktail). H. Joseph Ehrmann—a Liquor.com advisory board member and San Francisco bartender—swears by the recipe below. And New York Times booze writer Robert Simonson thinks the Bloody Mary is one of the most influential cocktails of all time, so it's got that going for it. Get the recipe.

10 Hair of the Dog Cocktails to Kill a Hangover

Michelada

Electric Current Fizz

Negroni Sbagliato

Fernet and Coke

Fog Cutter

Bourbon Stout Flip

Silver Fizz

Champagne Pick-Me-Up

Relapse Cocktail

Bloody Mary

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