Fruit flies and booze

The headline seems perfect: Sex Deprived Fruit Flies Consume More Alcohol. But a closer look at the story suggests alternatives.

Flies in the laboratory will normally drink to intoxication if given the choice, but this behavior is altered when neuropeptide F levels are altered in their brains because of their sexual experiences. Mated flies are less likely to seek out such rewarding experiences.
...
Activating the production of neuropeptide F in the brains of virgin males flies made them act as if they were sexually satisfied, and they voluntarily curtailed their drinking.

Lowering the levels of the neuropeptide F receptor made flies that were completely sexually satisfied act as if they were rejected, inciting them to drink more.

Earlier on one finds this: "

The rejected males then gave up trying to mate altogether. Even when placed in the same cage as virgin flies, they were not as keen to have sex. Their drinking behavior also changed.

I hope it was the reporter who muddled this up. When I consolidate what is reported, it sounds more as though the mated males reduced their alcohol intake relative to the normal behavior of fruit flies, not that the rejected ones increased it.

I'm not sure the phrase "rewarding experiences" is relevant to fruit flies. If alcohol is easy to metabolize, then perhaps the flies aren't looking for intoxication but energy.

One interesting aspect is the "discouragement" of unmated male flies. This is relative to what--their eagerness at an earlier stage in their life span, or to unmated flies without spiked food of the same age?