North Korea Claims to Invent Hangover-Free Alcohol, Probably Unsure How Alcohol Works 

If North Korea’s nuclear tests have you worried, can we suggest a little of the country’s new totally hangover-free alcohol to take the edge off? It’s a thing that certainly exists!

Called Koryo Liquor, North Korea let the world know that bottle service was popping in the state-run media, via an article in the Pyongyang Times Here’s how they described the process:

“Glutinous rice is first boiled and the boiled rice is scorched when it begins to steam. In the process of boiling, the nutritive substances of the rice settle down to the bottom and the starch breaks up to become glucose at a high temperature.

“The subtle blend of the savour of the scorched starch with the sweetness of glucose cannot be produced with any spices. The scorched glutinous rice contains essential amino acids, inorganic substances and vitamins and helps quicken lipolysis.”

Because it is “highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover,” the liquor was awarded North Korea’s December 15th Medal of Quality.

The report fails to note whether any of the research leading to this historic breakthrough was done in the country’s newly unveiled and atom-shaped science center. Presumably whatever research they do there relies heavily on ginseng, as the plant was also an ingredient in the country’s wonder drug Kumdang-2, which they claim cures AIDS, SARS, and Ebola, among other illnesses.

To be fair to North Korea, a 2014 study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information found ginseng’s effects on alcohol metabolism actually did relieve hangover symptoms. “Considering the reduction of plasma alcohol levels, expiratory concentrations, and hangover severity, we conclude that red ginseng relieves the symptoms of alcohol hangover,” researchers concluded.