Swiss Study: People Become More Sociable After A Single Beer

We recently discussed the dubious research grant on lesbian drinking habits. Now, researchers in Switzerland have used a research grant to establish what would seem the most obvious fact known to most anyone over 10: drinking a single glass of beer can make people more sociable. It turns out that Mackeson Beer was right: “It looks good, it tastes good, and by golly it does you good.”

The researchers from University Hospital in Basel tested only 60 people men and women drinking alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer. They then found what everyone learns after briefly visiting a bar or party: people seemed more sociable after drinking.

Professor Matthias Liechti explained: “Although many people drink beer and know its effects through personal experience there is surprisingly little scientific data on its effects on the processing of emotional social information.”

I am not sure that I would describe the lack of studies as “surprising.” Most of us did our research in college at keggers.

The study is being published in the journal Psychopharmacology and presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress Conference in Vienna.