The idea that just the right amount of alcohol can make us more creative from researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago back in 2012. Now, that research has paved the way for a beer that seeks to unlock our creative potential, sip by sip.
The beer, engineered by聽Danish communications firm CP+B and brewed by Copenhagen-based microwbrewery Rocket Brewing Company, is called聽. It’s described as a聽fruity, hoppy, IPA.聽Its 75-centiliter bottle聽has hash marks running up its side, telling you exactly how much to drink based on your weight. It鈥檚 not an exact science because of the variance in our respective alcohol tolerances and dehydration levels. And then there鈥檚 the problem of actually stopping when you get to your appointed hash mark. For that, we haven鈥檛 quite figured out a solution.
But let’s back up a step.
In their experiment three years ago, University of Chicago researchers divided 40 participants (all males), into two groups of 20. One group stayed sober while the other was given just enough beer to reach a .07 blood alcohol content. Then the researchers had both groups perform a range of tasks. One task involved word association, where the researchers would give a few words鈥攕ay, river, piggy, and blood鈥攁nd ask the participants what word was needed to form two-word phrases鈥攊n this case, bank. But it wasn鈥檛 enough to just get it right; research also asked how the participants got to their answers. Those who were intoxicated had significantly more insightful solution processes, or, they solved the problems more creatively.
The researchers also had the participants perform memory-based tasks, which the intoxicated group was significantly worse at. The idea here is that alcohol makes us bad at remembering things, but that鈥檚 good because distraction can enhance creativity.
Getting to that perfect .07 blood alcohol level without carrying around a breathalyzer is kind of a trick, though. Drink too little and you start feeling sleepy. Drink too much and your good ideas inevitably fall along the lines of: And I鈥檓 going to tell my boss exactly what I think of his stupid face. Yeah!
鈥淲e actually tested the beer working on creative ideas for our clients. We have come up with some pretty creative ideas,鈥 says Mathias Birkvad, who works for CP+B. He wouldn鈥檛 give any hints on his team鈥檚 beer-fueled epiphanies even when I pried, saying that they were still confidential. But he did say that The Problem Solver makes an appearance at most after-hours meetings. Before you start thinking, this all sounds very 鈥淢ad Men,鈥 know this: About three drinks would put a 150-pound guy close to the .07 BAC mark. That鈥檚 what Don Draper drinks before breakfast.
As an aside, it鈥檚 important to note that beer only makes you a more creative thinker for a limited period of time. It won鈥檛 actually raise your I.Q., although, last year researchers at Oregon State University found that a compound in hops could . Unfortunately to get the same effect, humans would have to drink upwards of 5,000 beers a day鈥攁 task even we are not up for.
Currently The Problem Solver is only available in Europe (clearly proving that Europeans fear America鈥檚 collective brain power and don鈥檛 want to give us a boozy boost). Birkvad says that CP+B is working on exporting the beer to the states, though we鈥檒l believe that when we see it.