"For those of us from the United States, drug and alcohol testing in the workplace is the norm." I don't think that's true, especially since they're talking about university professors.
So, he's observing that there is a strong correlation between scientists drinking a lot of beer and publishing less / being cited less.
Causation does not necessarily go in either direction (spending a lot of time in bars could lead to less time in the lab, continual failure to get published could drive them to drink, or both, or there could be a third variable), but I can't say the results are surprising.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=140808