The researchers began by splitting a population of male Drosophila into two groups. The fortunate flies each got six-hour sex marathons with receptive virgin females once a day for four days. The males that weren’t so lucky were subjected to one-hour sessions of constant sexual rejection by females three times a day for four days.

Then, males from each treatment headed to the bar. In this case, the local watering hole was a jar where they had unrestricted access to both a solution with no alcohol and one that contained 15 percent ethanol. Consistent with what we might expect from humans, the flies that couldn’t get laid preferred the alcoholic drink to the ethanol-free solution by a huge margin.

But the flies that preferred the alcohol had been exposed to two unfortunate experiences; not only were they constantly rejected, they were also denied sex. Was it the sexual deprivation or the rejection that drove them to drink? The researchers compared the preferences of this first group of males to a group that experienced no sex but also no rejection (these guys were exposed to yet another group of unlucky flies: decapitated virgin females that couldn’t court or mate). These two groups of males drank about the same amount of alcohol, suggesting that it’s the sexual deprivation, not the rejection, that drives the boozing behavior.