A year with no beer (or wine, liquor, mead, etc.) ...could you do it?
I could, but I wouldn't want to... I only drink beer and wine anyways, reserving the wine I like to drink right now since I can't afford to replace it. IF I only had mead running at this time, I would be looking at 9-12 months before drinking it anyway. Thankfully, I have beer to hold me over...
Not to mention, beer is GOOD FOR YOU!!

They knew this back in colonial days. People who didn't drink paid a higher premium on life insurance, and were probably more miserable to boot...
"Alewives in Colonial America brewed a special high-proof "groaning ale" for pregnant women to drink during labor. In fact, during the Colonial period, alcohol abstainers had to pay a certain life insurance company premiums that were 10% higher than that of drinkers. "
Full write-up is
here
A brewer (home or otherwise) that doesn't drink (at all) is like a vegetarian lion... Sure, it can survive, but it will be a pathetic shadow of what it could be.
BTW, how do you take into account religious ceremonies? Where wine, especially, is an integral part of it...