@mekkaokereke Full agreement, and fwiw I’ve also found that having alcohol (and alternatives) *around* during, say, an evening conference activity, is really different from “now we have the sponsored happy hour where the activity is just drinking.”
(My worst tech conference experience was in London and they had an open bar serving ONLY alcohol when everyone was tired and hungry and hot—you had to go find a water fountain if you didn’t want wine or beer. It got messy fast.)