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I think your cultural and social backdrop makes a big difference to your experience of alcohol. I am a Scot, living in Ireland and I can say that both of those countries has a real problem with alcohol. Ireland far worse than I could possibly imagine.
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I agree. As an Irishman I know from experience how deeply alcohol is ingrained in our culture. The old Guinness ad sums up some of the drinking attitude.. "Drink Guinness, it's good for you/Guinness gives you strength". Most social events in Ireland revolve around alcohol. I think historically Ireland has a strong association with alcohol and also the climate has a lot to do with it. I imagine if we had a climate more like Spain the drinking culture would be radically different.
I'm living in London now and alcohol is a major social lubricant here too, although less so than Ireland.
I've drank my fair share of alcohol in the past 10 years and this is the 1st month in all that time that I made a conscious decision not to drink it. Since Nov 1st I have not had any and don't intend to for at least 30 days. I know I don't need to drink to have fun, and I'm perfectly able to not drink - the challenge for me is changing my social life/circle so it doesn't revolve around alcohol.
It is interesting that in all the time I have drank alcohol that I never questioned why I was drinking and how seriously it impacted on me. When I did reflect on this I realised that alcohol was one of the primary factors for not meeting some of my personal goals.. such as meditating daily, eating well, getting up early and being productive.
It's been a real eye opener for me.