conspired to produce a dry mouth, upset stomach and a headache
Doctor, doctor, what can I do for a hangover ?
> Drink plenty of alcohol the night before
I used to wonder about the advice to St Paul to 'take a little alcohol for your stomach' - but then I guess 'little' is a subjective quantity
I also used to wonder why so many monasteries seemed to specialise in producing 'hard liquor'.
The answers came in several stages. I was going out with a girl who moved to France to work for Chartreuse Diffusion - the company that promotes the green Chartreuse. The booze that sits on the pub shelf is a
watered down version of the original product ! The original product is too alcoholic to be imported into the UK (though I do have a bottle somewhere
) and it is medicinal - to combat stomach acid !
Take a teaspoon of (medicinal) Chartreuse and slowly pour on some sugar until it becomes a heaped teaspoonful with the Chartreuse filtering up through the sugar to form a bright green mass - then consume it.
So why does this work ! ?
There are some 'general' equations in chemistry - probably the most famous is 'acids + alkalis = salts + water' - any acid plus any alkali will produce the appropriate 'salt' and water.
A less know 'general' equation is 'alcohols + sugars = esters + water' - and esters tend to be stomach calmatives. Some are poisonous of course so stick to those proven to be ok
St Paul's mediterranean diet would have included fruit containing sugars - so a little alcohol would have had a good effect on his stomach.
