The last stove I used was a home-made Pepsi-can alky stove. It was wonderful, for what it was--free and light. Of course it had limitations. There is no best stove or there would only be one stove. One method I haven't seen mentioned yet for flame control with alcohol is lifting up the pot and adding a capful of water to the fuel. I used to simmer rice fairly well doing that. Alky stoves are really only good for limited use. If you cook two meals a day and/or have to melt snow, the weight of the fuel starts getting too much. I read somewhere that the break even point is about 10 ounces of fuel--if you find yourself carrying more than that, gas might be better for you. My pepsi can stove wasn't very stable--it got blown over twice in high winds. If I hadn't been habitually careful with surrounding fuels, there could have been a fire. The alcohol wasn't the issue--the surface fuels could have been.

I don't carry a stove any more, and haven't for many seasons and many miles. My hiking and biking just got better when I stopped cooking, or trying to cook is more like it.

Here's a pretty good stove summary from the hiking world: http://www.pmags.com/stove-comparison-real-world-use