For many americans, its hard to get actually drunk at the bar without having to drive home after. You might live well outside of walking distance and there might be really poor coverage of taxi or rideshare services. You might have to have someone be the designated driver. For some reason the standard price of a pint of beer that isn't bud light has creeped up to at least $10 practically everywhere, in the 'cheap' midwest too. It adds a ton of friction to these cultural things that are much more commonplace elsewhere that have a lot lower friction to engage with them.

For example, in southern europe, its pretty common to see people openly drinking on the streets and no one bats an eye, either beers or straight up taking pulls from vodka bottles as casually as if its a water bottle. A lot more people live walking distance to a bar or someplace that serves alcohol. The smallest village will have a bar before it has a pharmacy or any other services. I've even found it to be cheaper to order light beer than to order water in restaurants in certain countries (they don't give you water for free like in the U.S.). Getting drunk is a lot more convenient and cheaper in europe than it is in America, unless you live in a college town that has dirt cheap well drink deals or something like that, and those towns feel pretty european to me with their drinking culture as a result.