A recent study from the University of Illinois at Chicago has showed that drinking beer may make people smarter—especially when it comes to creative problem solving.

Now, we at Clusterstock don't support getting completely wasted on the job, especially when we've heard of the catastrophic events that happen when finance and too much alcohol mix. But the fact that alcohol may help with the creative aspects of your brain is still a fun little fact you and colleagues can revel in during happy hour drinks.

So maybe one or two wouldn't hurt...

The study tested 40 males between the ages of 21 and 30—giving half the group two pints of beer and the other half nothing to drink. All participants had to solve a series of word association problems where they were given a set of words and had to propose a word to associate with it.

The result? The more inebriated bunch solved 40% more problems, and also finished solving the problems quicker than the sober group, according to the Daily News.

The study also found that although the group that imbibed were better at creative problem solving, they did worse on memorization tasks.

You can see a copy of the article on the study, which was published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition earlier this year, here >

[h/t Dealbreaker]