To be honest, my life hasn't really changed as a result (socially), but I definitely feel healthier, have a clearer head and my skin has never been better.
Friends from college that kept drinking 4-5 times a week (2-7 drinks per outing), especially women, appear to have aged years more than me.
I have observed this too. Not sure why but this and also smoking seems to hit women's age appearance a lot more than men's.
In my last two years of college or so my skin started to improve but was still incredibly dry and I continued to have dark circles under my eyes (which I've pretty much had permanently since childhood).
I stopped drinking as often for about a year prior to completely stopping drinking, so I'm not sure how useful my experience will be to you, however I'd say about 4 months in I really started to notice how vibrant my skin was. Zits would clear within 1-3 days and my skin seemed to need less moisturizer and have a healthy "oily" texture.
As someone who used to really enjoy drinking, I have no clue how or why people keep up drinking habits just to bend to social "norms".