He's not "recovering" if he's drinking
I "went out" (drank) about 13 or 14 years ago, and I was on a 3 or 4 day bender, and I was out at a nightclub, zipperfaced on a cornucopia of hallucinogenics, bolivian marching powder, and Bombay Sapphire with a group of friends, covered with 'massage oil' so my clothes were sticking to me all funny....in short, I was a mess, all of the sudden I saw "Big Head Doug" from the program sitting with a bunch of sober people, I was like "oh snap!" and tried to sneak by him...he called me over, made me make eye contact with him, and said "Andrew, we love you, not because you were sober, but because you are Andrew" and gave me a huge hug (my clothes were sticking to everything at that point, I was a mess!!!
That moment will stay with me for the rest of my life.
I've since said that to scores of alcoholics who have "gone out" and many tracked me down to say how important that was to them
If someone I know starts drinking I let them know I can hang out with them when they are not drinking, if they can't honor that, I can't hang out with them, but I let them know I will be there for them if they decide to get sober, and I let them I love them.
A few of my friends got sober at anywhere from 16 to 19, and started drinking in their mid twenties, a few turned out not to be alcoholics, I have no worries about non alcoholics drinking around me, just not alcoholics.