I can't tell you how many times over the past two years that my AX thought he could "drink socially". I will tell you that it rapidly spiraled into binge drinking with very serious consequences every single time.
If your BF thinks he can drink again safely, he's not in recovery. He's still in denial. My AX went to rehab twice last year. He was going to AA daily. But eventually, he always felt he could go back to drinking and "control" his drinking, and he always relapsed into binge drinking and benders of several days in length. With all of the financial and work problems, and the drunk driving, that went along with it. Not to mention his depression, anxiety, and frightening temper.
I truly believe that an alcholic's brain chemistry is different than a non-alcoholic's. I can have a couple of drinks and then stop when I start to feel sleepy from it. I can leave a glass of wine unfinished, or have a few sips from a beer and then decide I don't want anymore and throw the rest away. My XA simply could not do that. I never once in two years saw him leave a drink unfinished. Even if he could go a couple weeks drinking "socially", eventually it was clear that he was obsessed with when he could really go on a bender, and it always happened.
I feel that it was a terrible mistake to let my XA try to drink socially in my house/around me. I felt, well, he is an adult, it's his life, etc. But I was wrong. The inevitable downward spiral, over and over, into alcoholic chaos, caused enormous damage to my life.
An alcoholic committed to recovery knows that they can never drink again. Anything less is a recipe for disaster.