Rabbenu Avraham ben HaRambam writes:
If God would forbid everyone to drink wine and alcohol as he forbade non-kosher animals and fowl, not all would be able to comply...such a prohibition would also interfere with the benefit of wine and the occasional need to drink it. And if our Torah would say "Drink but don't become intoxicated," it would not work because there is no precise amount. Therefore he taught in the true Torah that it is permitted...but indicated that drunkenness is repulsive and practically forbidden (Hamaspik L'ovdey Hashem ed. Wincelberg p. 556).
This is in turn paraphrased (unattributed) by Rashba (Shut HaHadashot: 367):
ומפני שלא ראתה התורה למנוע שתית היין ולא יוכל לתת שעור לשתיתו עד שתתיר התורה בדרך משל שתיית הרביעית ותאסור יותר משתיית הרביעית וכיוצא בזה, ספר הכתוב התקלות הנולדות ממנו לתועלת גדולה שיהא זהיר ונזהר ממנו כל איש כפי אשר יכיר כל אחד בטבעו
And since the Torah didn't want to forbid the consumption of wine, and could not give an amount to the drinking, such that the Torah would for example permit the consumption of a revi'it and forbid consumption of more than a revi'it, or the like, Scripture related the problems that stem from it, for a great purpose; that a person should be wary of it; each person based on his own self-evaluation.
The Malmad HaTalmidim (Parashat Tazria) writes (and indicates that it is an older idea) that when it comes to intuitive things, the Torah suffices by teaching us to avoid through stories, rather through direct directives. His example, is drunkenness:
כבר קדם לנו כי הדברים שירחיקם השכל יספיק לתורה במניעתם בדרך ספור. וכשם שלא אסרה התורה השכרות בפירוש והספיק לה ברמזים בספורים
Unlike Rabbenu Avraham and Rashba, he is only addressing drunkenness; not any consumption of alcohol. Furthermore, unlike them, he does not say why the Torah chooses to teach intuitive moral instructions through stories rather than direct directives.
For an example of such instruction, see Radak to Genesis (9:20) who writes that the story of Noah's drunkenness is God's way of teaching Man not to get drunk:
היה הספור הזה להזהיר על משתה היין ושלא לשגות בו...בא ספור ממנו בתורה לספר בגנותו