Our happy hour fact to amaze your drinking buddies with

Dark alcohols lead to more painful hangovers than clear ones with the same proof.

Researchers at Brown University paid 95 healthy drinkers to spend one night drinking whiskey, one downing vodka and a third night imbibing a placebo. The order of the nights was randomized, and participants drank the same amount of liquor (or placebo) each time. According to the study's findings, the whiskey made the drinkers feel more hung over when compared to vodka. It did not, however, decrease the quality of their sleep or their ability to make decisions the next day.

The researchers believe "congeners," byproducts of fermentation that are 37 times as prevalent in a drink like bourbon as in a drink like vodka, enhance the feelings of headache, nausea and dehydration associated with hangovers.

This study should be germane for anyone who enjoys a cocktail (or eight) -- especially the fact that Brown University is now paying people to drink.