Can alcohol make tech companies more creative?

(Credit: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Silicon Valley believes in neither inhibition, nor prohibition.

Openness is encouraged, drunkenness is often cast upon blind eyes.

And yet some still frown on the idea that alcohol is anything other than an evil liquid, sent by the forces of darkness to make man incoherent.

I have scientific evidence that this might not be the case.

The Economist, its writers perhaps a little tipsy on the weekend, today offers an inebriating piece entitled: "The sad demise of the three-martini lunch."

It explains how America's battle with its puritan posture has meant an increased frowning on the presence of a sherry or a port in cubicles and boardrooms.

Stunningly, new research to be revealed in the Journal of Consumer Psychology suggests that a candidate who has a drink over a dinner interview is viewed as less intelligent than one who orders a smoothie.

For those who believe that alcohol in moderation can ease the mind and smooth the paths of righteousness and love, it is hard to understand such myopia.

For myself, I can say that a glass of Idle Cellars' fine 2008 Cabernet or a mere whiff of Saracina's Pinot Noir can erase a blockage and lead ... [Read more]