Interesting topic! I've often mused on my own whether or not I'm a "real" alcoholic. Biologically, my body suffers to a degree that it becomes extremely unpleasant to keep drinking. I don't know if that is the experience for heavy duty drinkers, whether they feel the same level of physical revulsion, but I think being more sensitive to physical pain can make it easier to quit than it would for a person who can easily push that aside for another drink? I've never been the type to reach for more booze when I woke up with a hangover; usually the smell of alcohol made me want to vomit even more. So I don't know if this makes me not a "real" alcoholic, whatever that means, just because there did come a point when my body said 'no more' and I've actually listened. Could a "real" alcoholic do that? Do I almost have to die for me to be considered a "real" alcoholic? I don't know, but I do know that I tried to quit so many times before and I failed. While I dislike using the word "alcoholic", I know I very clearly had/have a problem; I would never have decided to quit on my own if my body didn't fall apart to the degree it did last year, and then again more recently during a few days of binging in June. It just won't take it anymore.
As for moderation, I was able to experiment with that earlier this year. I was actually successful, but I never really enjoyed myself when I did drink. For me, the point of drinking is to get drunk and having one or two each time left me feeling unsatisfied and frustrated. Being slightly buzzed doesn't cut it, and since I don't even like the taste of alcohol (none of them - beer, wine, liquor), it's not even worth drinking for the taste. So there is really no advantage for me to try and moderate.
So I'm done now. I don't feel the angst about it the way I did when I tried to quit before though. I don't even necessarily like to think of it as "quitting". For me personally, it would make it worse to make it into this big huge deal. I'm the sort of person who wants things I can't have and can be somewhat rebellious, so I don't say, "You can't have that! It's so bad for you!" I say, "I can have that, but I don't want that." It works better for me.