I love the science behind brewing, and the sense of achievement I get from making a good beer or cider, and I love enjoying those results with friends and family.

The UK has a very mixed culture on this (and I can only really speak for England, and southern england at that). The youth binge and go mad, it's loud and unsightly and the rest of us try to avoid their pukey drinking holes. The quieter pubs are a great place to have some decent food, a few local beers and a really chill time.

Alcohol is toxic, it's addictive, it's carcinogenic, it's all sorts of bad things, but it's also added a lot to my life. These days (I'm in my 40s and in Australia) I don't overdo it very often, I go to beer festivals and craft bars and enjoy the cameraderie and the silliness and the laughs.

I'd still like cannabis legalised though...

Drunken, joyful reverie without inhibition is living poetry. Sobriety is admirable, important, and just. But no, you did not 'do all of those things'.

But now that I'm in my 30's and comfortable being open in just about any social situation, I don't find that alcohol adds much. I can lower my inhibitions on my own.

Anecdotally, at 35 I still sometimes wake up at 2 and stay up until sunrise thinking of cool new ideas.

There are sober people at burning man.

The way life turned out though, I'm not in touch with any of those people anymore. The idea of >"You get tired, you say goodbye to the people still staying out, you go home, drink water, and go to bed." sounds amazing, because I have energy to do personally rewarding things the next day without feeling wiped out and hungover.

Sounds like the perfect ending to a nice evening, where's the problem? Fear of missing out?

Though I rarely drink for any other reason