Vulcan, you are right about those cravings. I could not beat them by will power alone, once I had reached my 50's they were too strong to hold off night after night.
I can only say what worked for me and that was to force myself up at zero dark thirty and go jogging or walking for an hour minimum. Weekdays that would be followed by a days work plus all the other things like shopping, cooking, laundry etc that a person has to to. By 9pm I was so tired that crawling into bed was bliss and the cravings were reduced occasional passing thoughts that were much easier to ignore. It was very tough sometimes, London at 5.45am in January is not very welcoming but definitely better than the hell of alcohol addiction.
There seem to be a number different routes to quitting and I think part of the effort we need to put in is finding the way that complements our own personality type