I discovered hard liquor at 14 and decided I hated all alcohol. I discovered beer at 16 and thought it was heaven. By 18 I was drinking pretty regularly, by 19 getting blotto a couple of times a week, by 23 I thought about getting blotto when I wasn't actually blotto, which was only about half the time. When I wasn't drunk I was still feeling the hangover.
Met my future bride at 24 and immediately cleaned up my act significantly but could still party like a maniac and get too drunk to manage myself well. Started drinking some wine and some Bailey's. I kept a lid on my drinking for ten years or so, getting smashed maybe once a week, but drinking almost daily. At 40 I found myself unemployed and way more susceptible to boozing, started going out to the local after the household was asleep, or drinking alone in the dark at home. Eventually my digestive system said WHAT THE FUCK, MAN? I cut back again but my gut still complained. Red meat and cheese were more the problem but the vast amounts of beer didn't help either. I got in an awful argument with a good friend at a Legion function (funny thing was, in the end, I was proved right and my friend was out to lunch) and made a bit of a scene. The hangovers had been getting steadily worse, even with very little consumed. Work suffered. Bands suffered. Family suffered. On November 12 2002, I quit, cold turkey.
I don't know if I'm an alcoholic, but I suspect I'm at least borderline. I can still take a sip of communion wine (it's diluted anyway) without turning into a raging drunkard, but I wouldn't risk anything else. I like the near beers like Krombachers or Heineken 0.0...it might lead me to real beer but so far it hasn't.
The psychology of my boozing occupies too much of my thought. I did some pretty stupid things when I drank, things I regret.