If you leave the fat cap on a brisket, you should consider injecting brine. Spices do not penetrate muscle more than a fraction of an inch, but they do flavor the surface and help form the crust. If you coated the meat with a wonderful spice rub, it will remain on top of the fat and not get onto the meat.
Drinking too much alcohol on a regular basis almost always causes liver damage, although not always cirrhosis. Drinking 32 to 48 oz. of beer, 4 to 8 oz. of liquor, or 16 to 32 oz. of wine every day for 10 to 15 years or longer greatly increases your chances of developing cirrhosis.
Alcohol and Hepatitis. Cirrhosis is severe scarring of the liver and is the end result of damage to liver cells. Cirrhosis can be caused by many things, including viral hepatitis or alcohol, or both. Alcohol increases the damage done to the liver and speeds up the development of cirrhosis. Light drinkers or non-drinkers with hepatitis C (on average) have only moderate liver scarring, even up to 40 years after infection.