Driving Away - Literally and Metaphorically

Drew had his first "official" drive today as a licenced driver. He was going to town to stay the night at a friends' place; Gibbo went with him. He is growing up and away more and more. He took a couple of drinks with him for the first time too. Everything is changing. I really struggled with letting him take alcohol and then with what to let him take. Maybe it's time to start letting him have a drink or two, maybe it's not. There's arguments on both sides of course. I don't want to introduce him to a life of binge drinking but I don't want to let him loose in the world after high school as a total novice either, where his first night out drinking ends badly. Part of the reason I don't want him drinking is that I still think of him as a boy - but in reality, he's not. I don't know whether I'm being REsponsible or IRREsponsible; at least this way I feel like there's a bit of "control" involved in introducing him to alcohol instead of just letting him loose with a bottle of rum and a bunch of friends.