Fermentation of grains and fruit is a millennia-old way of preserving food that would otherwise spoil, so it isn’t without merit. The problem today is that alcohol is available so easily and so cheaply in many countries. In Germany, (some) beer costs less than regular milk per liter and hard liquor is available very cheaply as well.
I have seen people that destroyed themselves using alcohol, but most people can deal with it just fine. That’s also the problem when trying to regulate it, as it is not just a drug but a cultural thing in many countries. I have a hard time imagining Germany without its beer culture or France or Italy without their wine culture.
Fermentation and alcohol for consumption are quite different, as you’re probably aware. My kombucha is technically fermented, but good luck getting drunk on it. There is also a sizable difference between more traditional forms of alcohol and cheap high proof spirits harm wise.
Plus since this is a counterfactual, we don't actually need alcohol for preservation anymore. We have refrigeration.
The bit about Germany and beer is merely observational bias. You can’t imagine those countries differently because that’s the way things are for your lifetime. I’m sure in an alternative universe there’s someone talking about German weed culture, or German poppy culture.
Either way, alcohol clearly isn’t going away, and trying to make it go away is foolish. The point is that we’ve normalized a very dangerous compound due to historical reasons, and it’s fascinating.
Sure not all fermentation produces alcohol, but many fermenting organisms do.
And of course it’s observational bias, I said that I personally can’t imagine how the culture of these countries would be without alcohol, though I’m sure people would get along just fine (we don’t need alcohol to survive after all). Just saying that not everything needs to be banned, otherwise we might as well ban sugar and salt as they probably kill just as many (or more) people as alcohol.
I have seen people that destroyed themselves using alcohol, but most people can deal with it just fine. That’s also the problem when trying to regulate it, as it is not just a drug but a cultural thing in many countries. I have a hard time imagining Germany without its beer culture or France or Italy without their wine culture.