Which whisky is least likely to give you a hangover?

We’ve all been there: the hangover. After a fun night out, you wake up with a pounding head. The usual culprit is alcohol, especially when you mix your drinks. People sometimes claim that you’re less likely to get a hangover from single malt whisky because of its purity. But is that fact or fiction?

Let’s start by explaining what leads to a hangover. When making single malts in traditional copper pot stills, production happens in batches. During distillation, the first part that runs off isn’t used. This portion, the foreshot, contains impurities and harsh flavors and those are the things that trigger hangovers.

The heart of the distillate, the middle cut, is what’s kept. The tail, also called the feints, isn’t used either, for the same reason: it contains unwanted flavors.

In short, by using only the middle cut, you end up with a much purer final product than if the head and tail were included as well. So in that sense, it’s no myth that single malt whisky has a cleaner character.

Fun fact: some distilleries do reuse the head and tail, but as part of the charge for the next batch, of which only the middle cut will again become whisky. It’s a smart way to recycle within the process!

As you probably know, distillers make whisky in different ways. Some swear by pot stills, but not everyone uses them—and that makes a real difference to how pure the whisky is.

In large industrial production, there are no batch runs and copper pot stills aren’t used. That leaves fewer opportunities to remove impurities from the distillate.

A good example is grain whisky produced in tall column stills. Younger grain whisky tends to taste sharper. Whisky made this way is also lighter in color and flavor. You might therefore be more prone to a hangover from this style than from single malt whisky.

So what about blends, you ask? Combining multiple single malts and grain whiskies creates a smooth, consistent flavor profile that suits many whisky drinkers perfectly. But the real question is: are you more likely to get a hangover from a blend than from a single malt? In principle, yes.

To minimize your chances of a hangover, you’d ideally drink only pure single malts. In Scotland, single malt protections go so far that automatic copper pot stills running continuous processes are banned! The Scots locked that into their quality standards long ago—hangover prevention by design.

A few caveats, though: many other factors influence whether you do or don’t get a hangover. This article focuses solely on differences in whisky production and technique. Our advice remains the same: drink in moderation and stay hydrated. If you never overdo it, you’ll always reduce your odds of a hangover!

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