If my introspection doesn’t fail me, the reason why I tend to like people less if they don’t drink (not sure how much of this applies to how many other people) is that I semi-voluntarily¹ pattern-match “person who won’t drink” to “introverted and/or closed-minded (ETA: probably religious) person”: if for a particular person I have good reason that doesn’t apply (e.g. they are very cheerful, have a very non-traditional hairstyle, etc.) I won’t make much of a fuss if they don’t drink. Also, having drunk lots of alcohol and being still functioning is a hard-to-fake signal. (Other commenters have suggested to drink very slowly so that you can be seen as drinking throughout the night while only actually getting one drink, but I will notice that, even though I won’t do anything about that because I’ll realize that that’s just the polite way to refuse to drink a lot for whatever reason.)
Semi-voluntary: a process that I can consciously control if I choose to, but it’s active in the background by default, such as breathing.
Of the people I’ve met who don’t drink by choice (as opposed to e.g. allergies or nasty interactions with medication), the most common reason is that they don’t feel comfortable with artificially lowered inhibitions. This may not be entirely fair, but I tend to parse that as indicative of a worrying lack of confidence in oneself, either basic or by way of compensating for having had too little self-control in the past. Both are bad news, though not necessarily a deal-breaker in a friendship.
(Other common reasons: previous bouts of alcoholism [also indicative of impulse control problems], prefers other intoxicants [perfectly legit], doesn’t like the taste [acceptable in a young person, otherwise usually indicative of a sheltered existence].)
If my introspection doesn’t fail me, the reason why I tend to like people less if they don’t drink (not sure how much of this applies to how many other people) is that I semi-voluntarily¹ pattern-match “person who won’t drink” to “introverted and/or closed-minded (ETA: probably religious) person”: if for a particular person I have good reason that doesn’t apply (e.g. they are very cheerful, have a very non-traditional hairstyle, etc.) I won’t make much of a fuss if they don’t drink. Also, having drunk lots of alcohol and being still functioning is a hard-to-fake signal. (Other commenters have suggested to drink very slowly so that you can be seen as drinking throughout the night while only actually getting one drink, but I will notice that, even though I won’t do anything about that because I’ll realize that that’s just the polite way to refuse to drink a lot for whatever reason.)
Semi-voluntary: a process that I can consciously control if I choose to, but it’s active in the background by default, such as breathing.
Of the people I’ve met who don’t drink by choice (as opposed to e.g. allergies or nasty interactions with medication), the most common reason is that they don’t feel comfortable with artificially lowered inhibitions. This may not be entirely fair, but I tend to parse that as indicative of a worrying lack of confidence in oneself, either basic or by way of compensating for having had too little self-control in the past. Both are bad news, though not necessarily a deal-breaker in a friendship.
(Other common reasons: previous bouts of alcoholism [also indicative of impulse control problems], prefers other intoxicants [perfectly legit], doesn’t like the taste [acceptable in a young person, otherwise usually indicative of a sheltered existence].)