The relationship between Samudra Manthan and alcohol came up in a comment thread to another question, with one commenter stating that alcohol was forbidden in Hinduism because Daanavs drank alcohol and lost the chance at the amrit (nectar of immortality).
I tried to follow up on this thread myself, and came across these seemingly contradictory bits of information:
Varuni or Sura, goddess and creator of alcohol - taken - somewhat reluctantly (she appeared dishevelled and argumentative) - accepted the demons. [source = wiki mentioning Horace Wilson's translation of Vishnu Purana]1
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According to the Vishnu Purana, during the Samudra manthan or "churning of the ocean", the daityas came to be known as asuras because they rejected Varuni, the goddess of sura "wine", while the devas accepted her and came to be known as suras. [source = wiki mentioning Roshen Dalal's Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide]2
Then there's the point that Varuni is the consort of Varuna - who is a Sura - the god of water, but also has the distinction of being referred to as an Asura in the Rig Veda.
Given all this, can someone clarify what exactly was going on with Varuni (and wine!) during the Samudra Manthan? Do the epithets 'suras' and 'asuras' have any relationship to 'sura' ie. 'wine' and if so, what is that?