Flutter, something similar to that - which I used last night on someone I'd call a friend-in-law, who is the type of guy who sort of "asks too many questions" in general - was to say "I don't like drinking anymore." And then when he would come back to it again (either out of a host's sense of duty or because he has that way of returning to a topic, like a puppy dog that keeps coming back), I said, "...I like it better now." That was pretty effective, because it changed the direction quite a bit. He only tried to coax once or twice after that, but that was more a knee-jerk reaction while he was drinking, and he let go.
This guy was not the one I was referring to (and what was bugging me) when I started this thread. But it's good to go over this, because it can apply to those cases when someone less close to you doesn't get it and you haven't really told them you're an alcoholic.