"A piece of my brain suddenly pops up and says "man, a few drinks..."

Binge eating.

What ended up working for me personally was to identify when those thoughts started creeping in and then I immediately would start binge eating carbs. I kept a large stash of dinner rolls or honey-glazed walnut muffins on hand and would immediately start eating some, sometimes 3 or 4, one after the other finished with a glass of milk to fill my stomach up.

Think a lot of times. my body was just craving carbs or sugar and my brain was trained to associate beer with that. after eating the urges went away fairly fast. I would also keep cases of La Croix flavored water on had to satiate the habit of a cold fizzy drink.