Why do young people seem to be so fascinated with alcohol?

IMO,
it starts with the curiosity since they are not allowed to have it in the first place till they hit 18. Since it numbs the nervous system, it introduces them to a new world of imaginary freedom.

I do agree that it helps them make friends as well as mingle with elderly people who drink.

It would also give them a sense of satisfaction that they have done something adult!

It's taboo and mysterious.

They see it as a grown up thing to do, and when they get drunk they realise they have less inhibitions, which allows them to lose control and build a pseudo excuse for the next morning.

I would say because young people see drinking alcohol as being a grown up thing and that teens have always been faciniated with it creates a sort of tradition that the teens may want to follow. I would say the majority of teens drinking alcohol is from peer pressure, they want to fit in.

Because it's forbidden.

1. Because their friends are doing it
2. It is everywhere you look in movies and TV and music and is portrayed as really cool
3. It deadens your feelings and makes you "brave"
4. It makes you deleriously happy for a few hours and kids want instant gratification
5. They have no real role models to emulate

A: It is seen as a privilege only for adults. Every kid wants to be seen as more mature, more "grown-up" than he is.
B: It is forbidden. Basic Freshman Psych 101: the surest way to make any one want anything is to tell him he cannot have it. Any six-year-old knows that.
A case in point: my friend upgraded his furniture. The old sofa was still in fair-to-middling shape. He put it on the kerb with a sign, FREE SOFA - HELP YOURSELF.
Three days later he changed the sign: FOR SALE, $50.00. INQUIRE INSIDE. Phone xxx-xxx-xxxx."
.
It was stolen within an hour.

Alcohol is one of many fascinating things to a teenager.

Always have been, probably since the first fermented fruit was enjoyed in prehistory. Accessibility to cars is a pretty recent phenomenon in human history. People weren't as concerned with this when the old gray mare was the most dangerous method of transportation.

Probably cuz it's new to them, and allows them to slightly liberate themselves from the vice that the older folks constantly put upon them, whether through moral values, oppression or belittlement.
It also makes them horny.

However, I would most certainly not single out teenagers only as having an obsession with alcohol. A lot of older folks do too, if not just as much. They're just as irresponsible, too.

Just because one thinks they're awesome when they drink doesn't mean they are-something they might do well to remember from the lessons commonly learned during the teen years.

It's still "new" to them...