The short answer is - in moderation and not going for full blown drunk actively alcohol won't hurt you. the problem is (as with anything) when people over indulge and take it too far, and / or become addicted and really screw themselves up. If you stay away from it, good for you. If you do drink a little, no big deal. If you begin to party whenever possible and seek out the next drink, it's time to take a step back and realize that you may need to reevaluate whether it is worth it anymore or not. I used to do that. After I could drink more than I should and still pass for sober I knew it was time to quit. (The drunk driving incident had an impact on this as well - only I was involved), Thank God). After I quit it took literally a couple years to be able to process math well again. In my line of work, it's a daily tool, and I felt as though I had to retrain my brain to be able to process as quickly as it had before the years of alcohol consumption. It does have an effect on you that you can not readily notice. I haven't 'drank' in over 25 years. A little drink once in a few blue moons maybe, but no more indulging. The time I did try a little more I could feel the processing speed of my personal CPU slowing down and misfiring again. So it's not for me. Also, Anyone telling you that alcohol tastes good is either without tastebuds, has a horrible sense of taste, or is just flat lying. I've had a little and a lot of everything. Some taste better than others, but I could never say that any actually tasted 'good'.