酒 is water 氵 beside 酉 — an unmistakable oracle-bone drawing of a narrow-necked wine jar. The jar radical 酉 still ferments everything: 醋 (vinegar), 酱 (sauce), 醉 (drunk). Liquid plus jar: alcohol.
酒 lubricates Chinese social machinery: 啤酒 (beer), 白酒 (baijiu — the fierce national spirit that seals business deals), 敬酒 (toasting — with its strict etiquette of who toasts whom, glass held lower to show respect). 酒桌文化, 'liquor-table culture', is practically a management science. Li Bai wrote his best poems drunk on it: 举杯邀明月 — raising his cup to invite the moon.
Liquid 氵 pouring from the wine jar 酉 — ALCOHOL.
When toasting a senior, clink your rim BELOW theirs — glass height is hierarchy in Chinese 酒 etiquette.