How to Avoid a Hangover with Mercy, Bytox, and Blowfish

Last night was the big Bon Appetit holiday party. Picture roughly 100 happy, hungry people eating and drinking way too much in an Alphabet City bar. Now picture the morning after. Except that, in preparation for the likely headaches and green faces, we decided to test (for the benefit of our readers, of course) a variety of hangover preventions and cures: Bytox, a hangover patch containing a "powerful blend of antioxidants, vitamins and amino acids"; Mercy, a canned beverage that "delivers key nutrients" (e.g., milk thistle seed extract) to prevent hangovers; and Blowfish, an effervescent tablet containing aspirin and caffeine, meant to be consumed if the preventatives fail. While many of the BA staff tried one or two of the methods (with varying results), only 24-year-old Amiel Stanek—assistant to editor in chief Adam Rapoport and famed for his drinking prowess—tested them all. Web editor Matt Gross spoke with the Guinea Pig on gchat to find out how that went.