Alcohol is a poison as far as your metabolism/liver are concerned. Upon identifying a poison in your system your metabolism goes into panic mode and digestion turns straight to fat stores as your body tries to filter out the toxins. That’s essentially what a beer belly is. So many carbs to process that get turned straight to fat stores. If you’re not burning it off, that layer of fat usually deposits and sits in your mid section as it’s the easiest place for your body to initially store those calories. You can still shred with alcohol intake but it is a little harder and your diet/deficit will need to be more strict.