Anonymous wrote:He's an alcoholic, sorry.
^Not this.
As you seem to be aware, there are clinical criteria for alcohol use disorder, and "needing a drink to relax" does not of itself make one an alcoholic. It might be leading down that path, but it also might not.
I was in the habit of having one or two drinks a night (mid 40s, male). Probably haven't been drunk in a decade or so. The reason I quit drinking was because I started going to the gym every day after work. THAT takes the edge off and puts me in a good mood afterward. I discovered after a while (and after also starting to wear a Whoop fitness monitor thing) that the drinking was counterproductive to what I wanted to accomplish at the gym. No kidding, I know.
Basically, the realization that a single serving of alcohol was 200 calories of straight sugar was what made me quit. I wouldn't sit around drinking a coke, so I won't sit around drinking a glass of wine, or a beer, or a scotch, or a gin and tonic.
Beer is sugar.