Winterhighlight "Feuerzangenbowle" without headache?

Question

I would like to take this answer to an other question as an opportunity to ask about an other speciality we Germans like to take in winter. It is about burning sugar with high-proof spirits. The German speciality is called "Feuerzangenbowle". It has different receipts whereas mainly mulled wine (with spices) is a basic substance and a sugarloaf is positioned over it. The sugarloaf then is burned by pouring rum (>54 Vol-%) over it until all sugar is burned and melted down.

The interesting thing is, that I never had headache the day afterwards, even considering the high level of alcohol in the resulting product. I love it when the liquid in the pot it is still burning after sugarloaf has been melted down totally. Is it possible that burning eliminates the fusel alcohol and other "bad" ingredients of the spirits?

Answer 1

What is happening is that you are burning off most of the alcohol before you consume it. I can't tell you the exact amount, but it's significant. I would say that it's probably less than 10% alcohol by the time you drink it. That's why you don't have a hangover.

Answer 2

Considering the many times I drank Feuerzangenbowle with my friends I can tell you that if the one pouring is disciplined enough to only pour the amount required over the Bowle farmersteve is right and you burn much alcohol in the process.

The "not having a hangover" part of your question though, I can't confirm as it depends really much on the quality of the Rum that you pour over it and on the amount of it that just flows into the underlying jar (if you pour too much Rum on it like always on such an occasion in my experience).

I can assure you that you can get a really heavy hangover from Feuerzangenbowle because the sugar and the Schnaps may most definitely cause the usual hangover effects like dehydration and such.