I quit, cold turkey as you say, without benefit of a sandwich too. Mind was made up, not drinking any more, period. Now, some might say that I am a lazy sort of person, but I think I'm just highly efficient. I started looking for the easiest, laziest way to stay sober. The way I did it was to say I didn't drink anymore, and those thoughts I had about drinking were just physical or emotional weaknesses that I had developed along with my addiction. I separated my goals for myself for the future from these urges, and proceeded like this for a couple of weeks, further developing this separation in my mind. When I read about AVRT, I learned that was what I had been doing all along. Did I imagine a beast, or a parasite? No, not really, but I did choose to make the thoughts of drinking 'ego alien', that is to say that they weren't my thoughts but the thoughts of that weakness that I would overcome.
Did I get quit by using a program, or not? I don't think I used a program, I just quit the same way that many have used before me. Some of those ex-alcoholics contributed to the collected lore of success that became AVRT, but I wasn't one of them.
I say that I quit by using AVRT, but that is because I am lazy (see para. 1). That way, I don't have to type it all out every time.