Okay. Maybe if you consume it and look in a mirror, but it doesn’t make you physically sexier to another person. However, through beer goggles, another person will find you more attractive and there is scientific proof to back that up.

Do the math

In a study commissioned by Bausch and Lomb Purevision, University of Manchester researchers created a formula which can be used to determine the attractiveness of another person in a bar or pub.

Based on a scale from 1 to 100 (100 being anything turns you on), the Beer Goggle Formula (see image to the right) uses the amount of alcohol consumed, visual acuity (how blind you are to begin with), and blends in environmental factors such as distance and smokiness of the room.

Research has shown that how we determine a human being to be attractive is, for the most part, relative to their symmetrical make up. The more intoxicated we get, the nucleus accumbens (that region of the brain which is involved in processing facial attractiveness and the release of dopamine – aka. the happy chemical), is being fed a beer goggle image. The nucleus accumbens, seeing the image as better than it actually is, rewards the brain accordingly.

But there’s more

In a related study, academics in Scotland, found that after drinking a moderate amount of alcohol, both men and women found the faces of the opposite sex 25% more attractive than when sober. No fancy formula, just some good old fashioned subjective research.

The moral of this story? I’ll let you create your own.

Beer fact or fiction?  Who cares? Time to go quench that panda sized thirst… cheers eh!