I agree that I was definitely alcoholic from the very beginning. I can remember drinking to get drunk from the very beginning and waking up so sick and miserable, just wanting to repeat the whole thing as soon as possible.
At some point, I started using the terminology 'alcoholic' to describe myself, but I never thought of that label as a bad thing. I always thought of myself as a functioning alcoholic, but towards the end, I was becoming much less functional, but had just failed to notice. I could still check the boxes- job, car, relationship, etc. But things were going down hill fast.