The rule of cooking with beer is the same as the rule of cooking with wine - only cook with beer (or wine) you would drink. We like Labatt's Blue here so that's what we use for about anything. But maybe not everyone likes Labatt's Blue?

Alcoholism is largely self-inflicted but as previously said in this thread, there are some genetic factors that increase the likelihood that a person will get it. So it's *mainly* self-inflicted but those genetic factors have to be taken into consideration. Of course, if you never drink you won't be an alcoholic, but then it's a genetic factor toward addiction more than specifically alcoholism so it could show up in some other kind of addiction that might be harder to avoid. I personally very rarely drink for two reasons - I am positive I would have to have the genetic predisposition, and I get migraine headaches and alcohol seems to be seriously related to them. But then I had a pain issue at one point and was on medication for a while, and I had a hard time stopping it. I did, but I had definite cravings and I felt sick for a few days. That was the first problem of that nature I'd had so it wasn't something I was really expecting.

Alcoholics are pretty powerless against alcohol. That's like #1 on the AA list, isn't it? Somewhere close to the top. I know alcoholics and, once they get hooked, it isn't as easy as saying, "This is a conscious choice and I choose no!" It's more complicated than that. Any addiction is more complicated than that. I used to work with a woman who was dying of emphesyma and as soon as she'd walk out the door at work she'd turn off her oxygen and light up a cigarette. If it were as simple as "having the power" she wouldn't have continued, but she wasn't able to break free of it. Our brains control all our behavior, including the behavior "buying alcohol". It is very hard to overcome that. It can be done, thankfully, but it's a constant battle for people who stop drinking.