At my prior employer, there was a legend of two guys who wrote the companies email system (before commercial packages were available) in 6 weeks. There method

At my prior employer, there was a legend of two guys who wrote the companies email system (before commercial packages were available) in 6 weeks. There method was to hit a pub for 4 hour design sessions every few days, followed by a few days of marathon coding. As soon as they'd get stuck, back to the pub. This was an uber-conservative employer, so beer in the office would have been cause for celebration. I'm with you that if you're going to have beer in the office, it should be good beer. A trend I've seen lately is scotch at work. It's more an end of the day relaxer than anything else. I've seen both sides of the argument, and don't have a definitive opinion. If it works, keep doing it. If not, don't. If beer in the office costs you employees, don't have it. If beer in the office cuts your turnover, it's cheaper than hiring new people.