The GWAS summary statistics used here (Clarke et al., 2017) are derived from simple questionnaire-based items related to typical consumption of various types of alcoholic beverages (e.g., beer, wine, liquor). Such assessments are amenable to collection in very large samples such as the UK Biobank, and meta-analyses of GWAS data for such simple alcohol measures have succeeded in locus discovery (Clarke et al., 2017; Jorgenson et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2019; Schumann et al., 2016). It is unclear whether all loci identified using these indices of typical drinking will overlap with the genetic variants that contribute to other drinking milestones and features, including alcohol dependence. Not only does alcohol dependence involve high levels of alcohol consumption, it includes a significant loss of control over drinking, drinking to ameliorate negative mood states, impairment of interpersonal and vocational functioning, as well as a general transition from impulsive to compulsive use (Koob & Kreek, 2007). One prior GWAS noted that the genetic correlation between alcohol consumption and dependence was modest and variable (Walters et al., 2018). Another recent study that draws on
