First things first, I believe that moderate alcohol consumption is assocoiated with an abundance of health benefits. The long-term effect on insulin sensitivity and body weight (via insulin or decreased appetite) may be of particular interest to us.
The thermic effect of alcohol is high and the real caloric value is not 7.1 kcal: it's ~5.6 kcal. However, it's still easy to overconsume calories by drinking. Calorie for calorie, the short-term effect of alcohol on satiety is low. Adding to this, intoxication may also encourage overeating by disinhibition of dietary restraint.
In short, it's your lifestyle that's making you fat(the late night eating, oversized portions, and the most famous culprit SUGAR) not the occasional Laphraoig shot.
An added bonus of consuming alcohol is the diaretic properties. Many fitness models will go for a night of drinking so they wake up for the next days shoot completely dried out so they look extra ripped.