Soap & DRI - I'm with you on the shyness thing. Alcohol seemed like a magic fix for me back in the day. It took the edge off my social anxiety & self-consciousness. As you mentioned, DRI - you are trying to recapture the old times with your friends when drinking was still fun and relaxing. How I tried to return to those euphoric days - and kept on trying to find them into my 50's. I learned that they were never coming back & I was turning my life into a living hell trying to find them. Insisting that I could use willpower to have "a few" was almost fatal for me.
With shyness - the only way to make it better is to keep practicing being around people. Drinking only masks your insecurities and self-consciousness. I was still me when I sobered up - and drinking to numb myself kept me at square one. I never grew or matured the way I should have. I'm having to catch up now, discovering who I'm meant to be - without my crutch. Life doesn't have to turn out that way for you.