I’m sitting here, a littlejittery from my morning coffee, trying to think of something smart and funny to write.It’s a bit early -- OK, it’s way too early -- butthat Don Julio Reposado on my shelf is looking like the right thing to takethe edge off the caffeine and my adult ADD and get the ideas flowing. Lubricatethe wheels of creativity, if you will. It’s not an unfamiliar idea -- a bit ofbooze gets you loosened up. How many times have youcome up with a better episode of The Simpsons with two buddies and acase of beer between you? Sure, at season 23 and with a dearth of chuckles, that maynot be much of a challenge anymore, but it seems our intuitions about the creative benefits ofalcohol were right. A recently completed study byresearchers at the University of Illinois found out what we intuitively and, drunkenly,asserted ourselves: That this guy right here is the best! Oh, wait, that’s not right. The study, called "Uncorking themuse: Alcohol intoxication facilitates creative problem solving*," found thata moderate level of vodka-induced intoxication gave test subjects a noticeable advantage when solving creative problems like word-association (think copywriting). The closer thepeople got to the legal intoxication limit, the better they were at solving theseproblems -- they were also faster at answering than their sober counterparts. So, before you start making every coffee an Irishcoffee, remember that these testees (great word) were not totally wasted, meaningthey were probably not Irish either. *For our lesslearned readers, a “muse” is a small rabbit-like mammal that you find at thebottom of a bottle of Turkish raki. Continue Reading

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