Had a question that rose in an old game. Is the drunken mastery archetype monk subject to the drinking rules (think they're in the GM Guide)? Is seems to me that the drunken master rules replace the drunk rules, taking one drink gives 1 drunk ki point instead of minuses and all that. From a search it doesn't look like this has come up before. Thought?
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Well it is an established thing from both the Drunken Master movies with Jackie Chan that a reason the art isn't widely practiced is because while in combat it really benefits the practioner, outside of it they tend to become alcoholic and suffer the usual stuff from overly imbibing.
Tellingly, the drunken master archetype gives up the monk abilities that makes him immune to poisons and disease.
I'd say that in combat the booze is the power of the drunken master, but out of it, it has its normal effects.
My current character is a Drunken Master Monk, and he is a blast to roleplay (used Charisma as a dump stat, so he's a filthy reeking drunkard who prefers to pass out in the gutters of Absalom versus spending the night in an inn and is just plain awful at social interaction).
As for whether the drinking rules as laid out in the Gamemaster's Guide apply, you'll have to chat with your DM. One one hand there's nothing in RAW to suggest that you SHOULDN'T be subject to the drinking rules, while on the other hand the drinking rules are kind of awful (in particular they're very restrictive as to how much you can drink at a time, and there is no explicitly listed timeframe for how often a character can drink before penalties set in, so it's open to GM interpretation) so if you go strictly by RAW you'll likely have a difficult time keeping Drunken Ki available prior to combat.
"Just like drugs, alcohol can be abused and have significant negative effects. In general, a character can consume a number of alcoholic beverages equal to 1 plus double his Constitution modifier before being sickened for 1 hour equal to the number of drinks above this maximum. Particularly exotic or strong forms of alcohol might be treated as normal drugs. Those who regularly abuse alcohol might eventually develop a moderate addiction." (From the GMG: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/mastery/drugsAndAddiction.html)
For the sake of example, my Monk has 12 Con for a +1 Con modifier. If the GM interprets the drinking rules as "Maximum per day = 1+(2)(CON)" then my Monk would only be able to drink 3 drinks per day before facing penalties; however if the GM interprets the drinking rules as "Maximum per hour = 1+(2)(CON)" then you're able to be much more liberal with your character's drinking habits. I personally think that the "per hour" timeframe makes more sense, however, since it's not explicitly written, expect table variation.