Awal, just a practical suggestion. If you wear a fit bit, or possibly another fitness tracker or smart watch, you can set them to vibrate on your wrist at a certain time as an alarm, which might help with the ear plug situation. You might not like having a band on while you sleep, but if you can put up with that, it could be the answer.
Regarding the mood thing, it takes a long time to dry out enough to get through the alcohol making you feel relieved and relaxed thing, and find other soothing habits. He is craving a drink, so it's very understandable that when he has it, it feeds the pleasure centre of his brain.
I was able to substitute other rituals, around pots of tea to help me through the craving period and it does go away after a while. It's a long time since my thoughts turned to drinking when I came home from work and wanted to relax.