One could easily see this as deeply Puritan reasoning in comparison to e.g. a stereotypical Southern European culture where the question is rather something like

“It’s cheap, and we all live to be 80 anyways. Why wouldn’t I casually drink alcohol while I enjoy a meal out with friends?”

My experience of Spain was that people didn’t drink to excess. I specifically recall Feria de Abril where alcohol was abundantly available. It turns out being social is the focus, and the only inebriated people I saw were foreigners and a few teenagers.

New Zealand was culturally very different, where excessive drinking was strongly encouraged in the social groups I saw in my early 20s, and across a variety of social groups as I got older.

1. The lucky ones make it to 80, lots die to unimaginably painful cancers, let's not increase our odds by drinking volatile solvents

2. If you have a drink every night out with friends you build a tolerance to it, and you put stress on your body for no gain.

3. Dehydration, sleepiness, and worse sleep and cost are big downsides

4. You can have better, cheaper effects with edible weed.

South Euros have no binge culture like the North Euros. While they are not abstaining, somehow overconsumption seems to be far less of a problem down there. Be it alcohol or food.

It's mentioned in the article, but Europeans tend to look down on being drunk and view wine/beer as just part of the meal.

Unless you're British. Or Scandinavian. Or big swathes of Eastern Europe. Basically anywhere with atrocious weather.

Two Finns are in a bar. After hours of silence, one man raises his glass to the other and says, “Cheers.” The other man snaps back, “I didn’t come here for conversation.”

https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2009/great-directors/aki-kaur...

I love this one but prefer the ending "Are we here to drink, or talk?"