A small glass of wine or a pint of beer helps unleash creativity, Austrian scientists have found, according to The Independent.

“Alcohol is so linked with creativity,” lead author Dr Mathias Benedek said. “Previous research has found almost half of the great writers had a history of drinking. We found that a small drink can indeed help with certain aspects of creativity.”

Don’t reach for the morning Merlot just yet; as Benedek explained that moderate drinking could simultaneously make focused work a little more difficult. No kidding.

“It might well work for someone who is sitting down to do creative writing or brainstorming ideas in a boardroom,” Benedek suggested.

Some participants were given a bottle of normal beer whilst others were given a non-alcoholic beer, which they weren’t able to distinguish between.

They were subsequently given a series of word association tasks, for example, they were asked to link the “swiss”, “blue” and “cake”.

Those who had drunk alcohol were more likely to correctly guess that cheese was the linking word.

The alcohol-drinkers also exceeded in a creative thinking task, in which they had to suggest alternative uses for tyres with “a swing” deemed one of the most creative answers.