This is Highly Recommend, a column focused on our culinary, beverage, and shopping choices. In this space, writer Sam Stone highlights his essential support when exploring restaurants and bars while traveling.
I consume a significant amount of alcohol. Not excessively, but enough that I’ve started keeping track of my drinks during dinner or while evaluating a bar for work purposes.
I aim to limit myself to two drinks each evening these days. When I reached 30 a couple of years back (pause for gasps—I understand, I know I still look around 24), I discovered I had become a common stereotype: the individual who discusses the decline of hangover tolerance after hitting 30.
As I approach middle age (while still appearing energetic and youthful—please, no more comments, you’re making me blush!) I can’t handle terrible hangovers as effortlessly as I once did. Yet, occasionally, I have to explore bars for my research (Editor’s note: challenging job), and capping it at two cocktails for the night isn’t always feasible.
While traveling across the country visiting three or four bars nightly for our Best New Bars compilation, I would plan to indulge in between [redacted] and [redacted] drinks each visit. I often maintained that rate for three straight nights, but rather than waking up painfully hungover each morning, I felt essentially fine.
My secret advantage was Last Call, a supplement for alcohol recovery presented as two capsules.
Last Call is filled with various ingredients aimed at alleviating hangover effects—B Vitamins for vitality, for instance—but the primary active component is DHM. Dihydromyricetin, as it’s formally known, is a type of flavonoid found naturally in the fruit of the Japanese raisin tree that grows in China, Korea, and Japan. As a supplement, it’s thought to assist your liver in processing alcohol more efficiently—additionally, it may offer extra protection to your liver against long-term harm.
DHM as a component in hangover remedies isn’t particularly novel. It has been traditionally utilized throughout East Asia as a wellness supplement, especially within Korean hangover remedies, of which there are countless varieties. (The inspiration for Last Call’s co-founder, Teddy Kim, came from similar solutions during his travels in Korea.) In recent times, however, DHM has started appearing in the U.S. as more individuals discover its effectiveness in preventing intense hangovers.
Throughout my bar explorations, my anti-hangover regimen remained consistent: As I concluded my evenings, a stomach laden with cocktails and bar snacks becoming louder, I would open the single-serving packets and swallow a couple of Last Call pills. Instead of downing water (which would certainly further irritate my stomach), I’d sip on one sensible glass before hitting the sack.
While I rested, Last Call would perform its magic. The following morning, I would be astonished to awaken clear-headed, ready to tackle another day of professional drinking.
