Well, alcohol is a big subject. I’ll focus on only the grapey kinds. In certain regional cuisines, red wine sipping with fatty meals and good conversation with others or music appreciation solo is a symphony for the palate, and rounds out the neurological experience of the tastes.
Brandy is zero carbs and zero sugar - and a bit in some extremely fatty, hot egg nog with a natural non-sugar sweetener can be pretty divine in winter.
Red wine, friend or foe? Well, how’s your liver? Is your metabolism deranged or is it strong for your age? Do you love mediterranean or French or Italian cuisine? A small glass of wine (or two, even) can be harmonious for those who don’t have deranged metabolisms and who use it to in the traditional way - to accompany fatty meals! Apparently, red wine reduces postprandial inflammation. When relatively healthy people drink red wine with their lovely fatty meals, the meal gets healthier.
With proper care, grapevines can live for 50 to 100 years or more, producing grapes. That’s pretty amazing! Some of California’s oldest vineyards contain actual grapevines dating back to the 1880s and French winerys that go back to the 1400s!
As to if red wine is friendly or not, this can vary a lot depending on extent of metabolic derangement an individual has. And then add to that how healthy one’s liver is, how one has lived for decades previous, and the degree one has detoxed in general. Also, the closer one is to midlife metabolic slowdown plays a role. PLUS if one has a tendency to over-indulge in alcohol rather than have limited swigs with a meal, it’s an altogether different issue related to addiction/habits/self-harm I think.
All of the above variables are meaningful, none of them trite - and how they combine for various folks differs. There are nuances.
There are small amounts of sugars in red wine (about a gram per small glass of red wine) that can wreak havoc on some people, yet have the opposite effect on others and serve as a digestive aid and anti-oxidant assistant (resveratrol) which seems to explain why the heart disease (CHD) death rates in France are so low despite high intake of dietary cholesterol and saturated fat and… regular bread and small desserts.
HOWEVER, dry red wine - and preferably organic - is key. Mark Sisson’s blog post “The Definitive Guide to Wine” is a good overview on it - for those that are keto adapted and adaptable.
Personally, since going keto the last 6 months, I reduced my red wine intake down to one small glass of red wine with dinner 3-4 nights per week - rather than two large goblets most nights - and have experienced steady inches lost, shrinking visceral belly fat, good digestion, and the pleasure of savored tasty keto meals with some swigs of Trader Joe’s organic red table wine - very economical at around $4 per bottle and one bottle per week.
Dr. Michael Eades and Dr. Mary Dan Eades (authors of Protein Power, a LCHF not actually high protein, dietary lifestyle book published in the late 1990s - their current book is “The 6-Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle”) talk about how small amounts of wine with certain cuisine are a relatively ancient tradition in some regions - but how MIDLIFE follks have to be more mindful/restrictive with it.
Here’s Dr. Mary Dan Eades’ mulled wine recipe for those who partake of limited red wine in the LCHF/keto way of winning - I would use xylitol or erythritol myself: https://proteinpower.com/drmd_blog/2012/12/22/lower-carb-mulled-holiday-wine/
Unsweetened hard liquor is a good way to go. The “1 or 2” and be satisfied is something to think about.
Finding the ‘sweetspot’ which for most of us will be quite limited consumption, if we consume at all, is the deal. Beautiful picture, there. I do love wine-growing regions, the culture and the people. My wife and I have gone to Italy and France a few times, much of the trips aimed at wine.
Okay, to be serious, indeed, Nebulous - wise words.