To be filed under ‘Things I had to Learn the Hard Way’: Multiple Brooklyn Brewery Coffee Stouts + many many pours of saké + a Kolsch nightcap = a great time…followed by queasiness, a pretty hardcore headache, and a general sense of malaise.  The fact that all of this went down on a Wednesday night and Thursday morning, respectively, meant that I had one rough day of work ahead of me.  After my go-to hangover cure (toasted jalapeno bagel with veggie cream cheese and a gallon of blue Gatorade) failed to produce any serious relief, I began to feel a bit desperate.  That is until I remembered that just the day before, like mysterious gift from the party gods, a sample of this had arrived in the mail.  Hangover Buster.  I’m aware that the photo is awful and blurry, but that’s quite reflective of my state of mind when I took it.

I’ll admit it; I was sketched out by this product.  More specifically, I was sketched out by this statement:

I’m still unclear as to why they’re quite so serious about the water being room temperature.   But, I was in dire straits.  What choice did I have?  So I mixed it up in my empty Gatorade bottle (because I’m a classy lady) and hoped for the best.

I kid you not, mere moments later I was already starting to feel better.  My headache was gone, I could think clearly once again, and the slightest physical exertion (sitting upright) no longer made me feel like death would be sweet relief.  Granted all of that was replaced by a racing heart, a freakish level of productivity, and the sudden urge to run around the block for an hour or two.  Turns out there’s a hefty dose of vitamins in each serving, plus an insane amount of caffeine.  And willow bark which, according to Wikipedia, is traditionally used as a remedy for aches and fever.  Who knew?

Final verdict: Astor Center does not recommend making a habit of ingesting things that randomly arrive in the mail.  I can, however, confidently admit that not feeling like death for an entire day is absolutely worth a heart palpitation or two.