I was wondering when this day would come, and so it has.
Here's the thing.
In IRL I don't drink. At all. I have seen it ruin people, and I do not wish to imbibe it myself.
But this is isn't IRL. The entire framework of the quest is that it's taking place in a fantasy land and universe. Ones where alcohol can be magical, healing you and fortifying you. It's stated that certain kinds of dwarf alcohol can sustain one for weeks without any other source of nutrition. Where there are mind-bending monsters just beyond the walls waiting on the road, out the forest, down in the cave. I am fully aware that Alcoholism is no laughing matter in real life, it can be crippling to the body and ruinous to friend's and family. But the conceit here is, again, the word fantasy. There are terrible poisons, curses, and yes repercussions to over-drinking, narrowing the sense and clouding judgement. In the recent battery of updates, Frederick noted that he was getting considerably drunk, willingly angering others and acting with less diplomacy than he rightly should have.
But for all of that, it is fantasy. The entire concept of the drunken engineering going on is that they drink a lot and then occasionally create insanity like the Doomspheres.
Yes, the Hohenzollerns have favored drinks, but that doesn't mean they get absolutely blasted whenever they're doing magic or fiddling with engineering. Every time that one of the women has gotten pregnant, they claim annoyance that they have to be sober for the pregnancy - but I don't doubt that Valaya Herself probably made some kind of nutritious ale for pregnant women because she was an Ancestor God who had that sort of thing in her domain. Either way, when they need to go sober, they do so. And what about terrible withdrawal symptoms? Well, they have Jade Wizards to help with that, and before they did, they stubbornly fought through them. Do I think that that discredits the effort of IRL people who try to go cold turkey on alcohol and suffer? No. I know that IRL it is often very, very hard. But this isn't IRL, and for the most part these women are capable of strong will, just like some of those IRL who can also do so. Just because here the Priestesses of Shallya might be able to lay a hand down and work the pain away with the merciful divine favor of the White Dove, doesn't mean that the struggle magically disappears for those who suffer IRL.
One example that I think somewhat directly contradicts your purported 'never impairs or makes my judgement worse' condemnation is back when Frederick and Urgdug were getting to know one another during that Elector's Meet. He beat up a noble's son, brawled his way through Nuln guards, broke into the highly secretive engineering facilities and shattered a cannon! Then they went up and he vomited on the roof of the Grand Cathedral of Sigmar. Crimes. Actual crimes, that he should not have done and would not have done if he was more sober. The vomiting part was practically blasphemous, and something he would never do while sober. If you don't think that Frederick wouldn't/doesn't cringe about certain moments that night, regardless of the results, you should.
Just because they have favored drinks shouldn't be cringe worthy, any more than someone saying that they like a particular kind of ice cream. It's the kind they like, when asked what kind they like.
I am aware of just how bad Alcoholism can be in the 21st Century. However, this is not the 21st Century of Earth.
It's Warhammer Fantasy. Certain things are unavoidable components of this make-believe, things like daemons and vampires, elves and dwarfs, magic and mad science.
And that's not to deny that alcohol can't cause problems here either! There are countless guardsmen and highway patrolmen that took a few too many or too strong of a nip and ended up not quite managing to see the goblins or skaven skulking up to shank them in the kidneys. Or the criminals getting away after their robbery. Rash words are spoken due to liquid courage lubricating exchanges, driving things to violence that didn't need to be there. There are abusers out there, just like in real life, and some of it indeed is likely alcohol fueled. To partners and to children.
But here, when Frederick and Natasha get absolutely furious with one another over something as most couples of powerful personalities inevitably do, they can go out in the yard and absolutely wreck the shit out of one another while arguing and while drunk. They can slit throats, cut open bellies, snap bones, and break noses. And then the Jade Wizards and occasionally the priests can manage to put them back together. They can drunkenly argue all the while, then go get counselling from a Head Priest of the God of Dreams about their thoughts, because knowing a lot of stuff about the mind applies there. Then they can talk to one another, sobered up, and reanalyze their points or lack of ones. Here, wing-suits can take a fully grown person up into the air with a tiny bit of work, and in time lightning and steam-powered clockwork horses can be a thing. And while the Jade Wizards can knit or grow back flesh and bone, they can help heal the organs as well. That includes the liver, the veins, the heart, the skin, etc.
Here, while there still exists the inherent issues of Alcoholism for many, there are also ways to mitigate them that don't exist IRL. Divine, Arcane, or just as an aspect of the reality itself (magical berry wine, super dwarf ales conveying strength, potions of healing, etc.) and perhaps, just perhaps, a little bit of unrealistic self-control...as befitting a fantasy.
So while I get that it might make you cringe, it's not going to be going away. It kind of needs to be included in the acceptance that this is a departure from non-fiction, with things that don't correspond or connect to reality in any fashion other than in how it is clear and undeniable departure from it. Skaven are treacherous self-identified ratmen who wish to overrun the world in their Vermintide, whose ways are so ingrained that a Greater Daemon of their Horned Rat God is genuinely creeped out by sincere loyalty. Greenskins are fungus-based organisms whose spores got to Mallus by clinging to the transports of the Old Ones from beyond the planet and integrated their annoyingly adaptable selves into the local biospheres, who love fighting more than anything else, more than food or drink or 'shiny fings'. Beastmen can be created if the Green Moon (which is made up of magically radioactive fantasy! plutonium) hits a cow just right, instantly mutating it. Lizardmen are unaging meat-robots who ride dinosaurs that existed IRL and some that don't. The warping Winds of Chaos have been blowing over the world for thousands and thousands of years from both the North and South poles, subtly changing almost all things through its effects mentally and physically over time. Humans, being so mutable, are definitely recipients of this. A lot of stuff here ain't stuff from IRL, like you stated.
I've previously spoken of the staggering, absolutely monolithic differences in psychology between Mallus humanity and IRL humanity. 2000+ years of Imperial history, starting with close friendships with dwarfs, who literally have an Ancestor God of Home/Hearth/Healing/Brewing as part of their pantheon. A newborn civilization, like a real child, would obviously take inspiration from those older who spend time around them. Thus, drinking culture in the Empire advancing from barbarians and tribesmen to what it is to day, with clear inspiration from the Karaz Ankor. Then we can shift to Ostland, where genuine heart-stopping mind-breaking mortal terror was not a common possibility, but a daily one. The Forest of Shadows was terrifying, cloying, choking, and outside of the big cities, a true and major danger due to its influence and inhabitants. In a way that despite how I describe it, I could not possibly fully encapsulate the sheer issues there compared to any IRL human civilization or settlement in history. So they drank to get rid of the fear enough to get some firewood so you won't freeze to death, to go in and hunt the deer so you won't starve to death. And they drank to live, they drank to die. Drinking one's self to death is absolutely something people in Ostland did/do, as its better than a beastman gutting you and then dragging you along behind their chariot. Or the green moon mutating your son into a Chaos Spawn who will eat you alive. Or, as before, to avoid said dying of exposure or starvation.
I am, in no way, going for an 'alcohol is always good no matter what' stance here, either in Warhammer or reality. But I am going for an 'Warhammer alcohol maybe not so bad as IRL' one. Maybe think of it this way; I don't call it ' A Dynasty of Just Regular Realistic Alcoholism'. It's 'Dynamic Alcoholism', meaning that there's magic and Gods and things going on that aren't necessarily 100% realistic.
It's meant to be an escape from IRL, with a bit of drama, a bit of action, some humor, etc. not a perfect mirror, you know?
I'd apologize but...well, like you mentioned...it is in the title. Sort of part of the quest from its very first days.
