What's the point in drinking any alcohol at all unless you want to achieve some level of impairment?

I've worked a few times in Germany for onboarding new teams for a company I worked at previously. It's pretty normal to have some lunches with a beer, beer is a very cultural thing for Germans and having a beer during a lunch out with the team is completely normal, no one is impaired, no one is drinking 2-3 liters of beer in one sitting. Even here in Sweden where alcohol drinking is much more frowned upon I've had lunches (usually on Fridays) with my teams where we would have a beer or two.

There are very different degrees of what and how much to drink, it can be a socially responsible and enjoyable activity, it's relaxing to let go from the whole super-professional office culture and have a beer and cheers with colleagues.

The world isn't black-and-white.

I live in Germany and I don't drink beer at lunch. I never worked anywhere where people did. People drink beer for a buzz. I also have a beer at work on a Friday if I'm in the office but no work is getting done after it. I especially disagree that it is relaxing to have a beer at lunch and then go back to work and unless you are planning on doing nothing for the rest of the day.

This comment belies a misunderstanding of how alcohol affects the body - that it merely creates a gradient from "not impaired" to "impaired".

Clearly there is more to alcohol than just impairment. Alcohol is both a stimulant and a sedative. It's widely recognized as a social lubricant. All of these properties, in moderation, can be beneficial to many kinds of work.

Some people do enjoy the taste, or the warming feel you get. I will sometimes have a small glass of whiskey in the evening just for that sensation, not to feel any intoxication.

The warming feeling is mild intoxication?

No. Intoxication is generally considered to be mental impairment or a change of mental state, like mood, inhibition, etc. The warming feeling you get from alcohol is due to alcohol dilating blood vessels, moving more warm blood to your extremities and skin. It is a real physical reaction, not a mental perception. So while you might also be intoxicated, the warm feeling is not intoxication per se.

If it’s giving you a physical reaction then it’s also going to give you a mental one. They go hand in hand

Well, no. It is a drug and drugs do different things to different systems at different levels. You can't just assert that a drug must be doing B because it is doing A at the exact same dosage.