Step 1 of AA is "We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol and our lives had become unmanageable."
To me, "powerless over alcohol" means that once I have one drink, I can't stop when I want to. Or I can, but it's a huge effort and often fails. What kept me sober was realizing that I DO have power over alcohol if I don't drink at all. As far as life becoming unmanageable I took it to mean any negative consequences. Most of my drinking days were more like yours, binge drinking. However, like alcoholism for most, it escalated over the years, where the days of not drinking because I couldn't have more than two became fewer and fewer, the amounts increased, and I increasingly drank to passed out/blacked out.
Normal drinkers simply don't have these thoughts and conversations. If they want to drink, they drink, if they don't, they don't, and they stop when they want to, generally before negative consequences other than maybe a slight hangover.
Step 1 was the beginning of my road to sobriety, which was long and I threw everything I could at it. Ultimately I didn't use AA, but I do credit Step 1 with giving me a solid foundation.
Can you moderate? Possibly. Data on this site suggests that moderation is rarely successful, particularly over the long term, but I don't like the word "never." But chances are that you are at the beginning of a problematic relationship with alcohol that will only progress in a period ranging from months to decades. I went through phases of terrible binge drinking which progressed interspersed with long periods of relatively normal drinking. However, it ended badly for me, where I was told that if I didn't stop drinking I'd be dead within six months and that the only recommended course of treatment was medical detox and a full 30 days of inpatient rehab, at a minimum. Which I did, and it was there that I encountered Step 1.
I also determined that I was done negotiating with alcohol. Moderation, if you drink alcoholically, is not fun and a lot of work. If that's what it would take to be a moderate drinker it wasn't worth it.
Just my two cents. If you decide to get sober, what's your plan?