Double Standards and Alcohol

I find Swedes to have some of the strangest traditions about alcohol. They dance, sing, get completely wasted on a regular basis, even the adults. But there are such strict rules about when it is even ok to have a beer. American society is perfectly ok with you coming home and having a beer or two by yourself after work. It doesn't mean you're an alcoholic, because you're not getting drunk or even buzzed. At that few it is just considered relaxation. A reward to yourself for a hard day's work. But if I come home from work or school and grab a drink, the first thing I'm asked by a Swedish friend is 'who are you drinking with?' Being with someone else seems to make it ok to drink? And then if I say I'm just having a drink, the first reaction is 'you can't do that!' Yes, actually I can. Another idea is the fact that you can't drink on a Monday night. I swear Swedes must think one is physically incapable of it or something. Yes, you can drink any night of the week. You just don't have to get so drunk that you're incapable of walking home. The reaction to that seems to be, but that's a waste of alcohol! How is something a waste if you enjoy it? Somehow I think Swedes have it set into their minds that alcohol's only purpose is to get one drunk. The drunker the better. And this is university age Swedes or older! I expect that attitude from 14-16 year olds... but after that it is possible to just have a beer. That's not to say that Americans don't drink until they can't even stagger home, but more that we don't normally consider that the sole objective of opening that first beer. (Although a few frat boys might disagree with you, but they're mentally 14 anyways).