I drank heavily in my twenties, like many.. but then when I was married and began to gain a career in my early 30's, I was able to moderate fairly successfully for another decade. At the peak of my career (age 45) I was in a Fortune 50 company and had 600 employees reporting up to me and a lot of stress. I was back to drinking a 6 pack every night (including two on the way home) until I quit the job, and that career, lol. Not a brilliant move, but it turned out okay.
Before it reached that point, I had tried outpatient rehab and AA, but couldn't stay sober. I was divorced, and dating and simply enjoyed my microbrews and wine too much, even if I had to struggle to moderate it. Once I hit age 50 however, I began to realize it was taking too much effort.. and I was worried about my health.. so I was able to slowly reduce the quantity I drank until it was down to an average of 60 drinks per month. I stayed at that level for a couple more years then finally quit for good when I was 58.
In retrospect, I wish I had quit sooner but I just couldn't. I had anxiety and relationship issues and it was a form of self medication. Because I was able to control it, my ego told me I wasn't alcoholic, so I resisted treatment and meetings. The net result of all that was that I wasn't able to really work on my recovery and understand my relationship problems until the past couple of years. You can't really do any of that until the addiction has been dealt with. So it goes.. we all have our own path to follow and mine has been interesting if nothing else. I have no real regrets. Life is good.