I hear ya @PollyPocketer , and I think all the YABU bunch who say you're petty and entitled to be sniffy about your DH giving up booze have never had theirs give it up.
My DH decided to go teetotal some 6 years ago. He was a bit of a binge drinker to be honest, and could knock back a third of a bottle of brandy in one night, and he was really feeling the effects of it. Instead of just cutting down though, he flat out gave up.
And you're right, it does feel odd necking half a bottle of wine on a Friday night when you're sitting in watching a movie together, and he's supping diet coke. You're feeling merry and giggly and he's stone cold sober. I used to love getting tipsy with him and doing daft things and getting the giggles over things together. As a sober person, he's like 😐
When he first stopped drinking booze, whenever we went out with mates, or his or my work colleagues, or family, I would be tipsy by around 8.45pm and having giggles with other tipsy people, and by around 9.15pm, he'd say 'I'm tired now, I'd quite like to go.' And I had to go with him, (as he was the driver.) If I said 'I'll get a taxi then,' he would sigh and sit down and say 'I'll wait then!' and sit with a face like a slapped arse, refusing to go without me, making me feel guilty/bad/shit because he wasn't enjoying himself.
So he was choosing to be sober but being miserable with it. (And dragging me down with him.) Got to the point where I refused to go out with him and just went out with my mates... I stopped going out with his colleagues because I was enjoying myself, and he would say 'I'm tired now ... I wanna go...' at 9pm!
Then there was the judgement when I had a drink. 'You need a drip directly into your arm you do,' and 'you're a lush!' and similar disparaging comments when I didn't even drink that much really! AND comments in front of other people... 'you shoulda seen her last week, rolling on the floor she was so drunk!' (I wasn't, I was tipsy, but he loves to exaggerate for attention.) I said 'no I was not, you bloody liar!' But the people he tells it to think 'no smoke without fire.' The amount of comments he made pissed me off so much that in the end (a couple of years after he stopped drinking,) I started to not drink in front of him. When at home, I wait for him to go to bed, or to be on a late shift, and drink alone.
So yeah, I have adapted, and honestly don't drink massively, just once or twice a week - 2-3 glasses of wine or port - and very rarely in front of him. And I have told him if we go out with other people, I will NOT be leaving at 9pm to 9.30pm because he is 'tired' or 'bored.' And I will be getting a taxi if he wants to leave early. So now we just don't go out at night together with other people. I just go on my own with my mates... Funnily enough, whenever we have got home in the past (after him leaving early coz he was 'tired') he has stayed up til 1am watching TV. I said 'not so tired then eh?'
and he'd just say' well I've woken up now.'
As I say, I have adapted/am used to his teetotalness now, but it was tedious to start with and hard going, and honestly... I would love him to start drinking again. For the first 2-3 years of it, he was like Fun Bobby from Friends. A great laugh when tipsy, (and I was tipsy too) but dull as ditchwater when he was sober - when we were out. And as I said, he didn't want to stay out when we were out.
So yeah, I think it DOES have an impact when you're a couple who has always enjoyed a drink together (he drank for the first 22-23 years we were together,) and one of you stops. If me and DH split and I met someone else, I wouldn't carry on seeing them if they were teetotal. I'd want someone I can enjoy a drink with.
Don't care if people judge me. That's how I feel. And I've lived it, so I'm entitled to say so.