Wow this reads like something from the prohibition era. It's not just possible, but common to drink responsibly. The pain and dissonance has more to do with immaturity than the booze itself. Not everyone who drinks turns into a wannabe Socrates or Caligula.
It's possible but it's also a relatively new idea. In Tolstoy's time anybody who wasn't a teetotaler was pretty much drinking until they passed out, every day. Military rations included a daily gallon of beer or quart of distilled liquor.
