Does Alcohol Make You More Creative?

We have all heard of those cool offices where Fridays are Bring Your Beer to Work Day – but they seem almost mythical to all of us day-to-day working drones – like a workplace unicorn. And we have all had days when we find ourselves staring at a blank Microsoft Word document thinking – f#*& I could use a beer. What if you could have a beer at the office? What if you did drink a beer or two while writing that paper?

It is no secret that alcohol affects brain power – we have all been to D.A.R.E.  I mean, we all know for a fact that alcohol can make us faster runners, irresistible lovers, Grammy-winning singers and UFC fighters – but is it all bad? I am a creative writer who has spent the better part of the past two years working in the prison cell that is my bedroom. Thanks COVID. And I will admit that I have had a beer on the job a time or two (please don’t tell my boss) and it has always seemed to loosen me up and has made me wonder – does alcohol make you more creative? 

How Does Alcohol Affect Your Brain and Creativity?

Stick with me here – I have had a couple brews. This is Hops and Thoughts of course. I may just be a big dumb-dumb, but the brain is a fascinating piece of equipment that I know nothing about, so I went exploring online to see how alcohol affects creativity. Here is what I found.

Repeated studies have shown a correlation between alcohol and improved creativity and problem solving. History has its own examples in world-class writers, poets and composers who enjoyed their fair share of the giggle water – Ludwig Von Beethoven, Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway and Socrates. In a paper titled Uncorking the Muse: Alcohol Intoxication Facilitates Creative Problem Solving – Psychologist Jennifer Wiley and her team wrote:

The nature of creativity and its causes is a topic that has long been of interest. Creative thought drives both artistic products and scientific innovations, yet the mechanisms underlying great accomplishments have been notoriously difficult to study due to the rarity of these events. A popular belief is that altered cognitive processing, whether due to insanity, sleep state, mood, or substance use, may spark creativity among artists, composers, writers and problem solvers. The use of alcohol in particular (alone or in combination with other substances) has been linked to the accomplishments of many great individuals including Beethoven, Poe, Hemingway, Coleridge, Pollock and Socrates.

To prove their thesis, Jennifer Wiley and her team recruited a group of social drinkers from Craigslist and gave a select few of the greedy booze hounds vodka cranberry cocktails until their blood alcohol hit .075 – while the rest of the poor S.O.B.s stayed sober. Test subjects were given a battery of tests that challenged them to find a single word that would link three target words. Example: cream/skate/water – ice. Team Cranberry Vodka solved more puzzles faster than their sober counterparts.

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READ MORE: What Is the Best Beer Style?

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Why Does Alcohol Improve Creativity?

God only knows how many theories there are out there on the effects of booze on the brain and creativity – but what I have found makes sense to me (remember I am a big dumb-dumb). Alcohol helps us think outside the box and open up our brain to new and fresh ideas – like when I have a few too many beers and decide to wax philosophical with a few Doctors of Communication.      

Alcohol affects the working memory in our brains (from what I read) – which is great for analytical problem solving and ignoring extraneous information – in essence, sticking to what you know and know well. When you have a few drinks, it loosens the inhibitions and unlocks the ability to take in that random information more freely and come up with more creative solutions and ideas – a premium attribute for artists, writers and other creative individuals.

In Conclusion

Beer is good – but you already knew that. A few drinks can help improve your creative processes and may unlock that literary masterpiece that has always been lurking in your brain tank. Keep in mind – that is just a few drinks – not getting shitfaced, taking off your pants, flashing the neighbors and calling your ex at noon on a Wednesday. Thank God I work from home.

Psychologist Jennifer Wiley and her team concluded:

In conclusion, the results of this study provide support for earlier suggestions that   creative problem solving may benefit from a more diffuse attentional state and show that  moderate intoxication may be one way to alter attentional states to be more conducive to creative processing.

As a semi-creative writer, I will stick to what I know and that is writers and writing. I will trust one of the all-time greats and his matter-of-fact anecdotes.

My own experience has been that the tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whiskey.

– William Faulkner