When I want to go light and am just boiling small amounts of water I often use a Swiss military surplus "Volcano" cookset paired with a pepsi-can Trangia type burner. It works well; that being said I was hampered this summer in Wyoming (backpacking) with this setup because of what I suspect (I was warned) was a batch of old fuel that had absorbed water, combined with altitudes over 10,000. I may try my hand at home brewing a lighter setup than this over the winter. I like the simplicity and what I percieve as, yes, the safety of an alcohol burner. That perception is colored by an experience with my Whisperlite.....an o-ring in the plastic pump sprung a leak when I was testing the stove on my back deck prior to a trip. The violence of the fire had to be seen to be believed, it looked like a mini oil rig disaster. I don't exaggerate when I say that if I did not have an extinguisher handy, which I ran dry, I might have lost my house. I have also had a Whisperlite pump break on me, besides the one that was destroyed in the deck fire.
The one pressurized liquid fuel stove I trust is my old-school dead simple Svea 123. I use it when with a group and using a bigger pot to boil a couple of liters at a time. It is only a bit heavier than the Whisperlite, all metal, and has served me since I was a Boy Scout 40 years ago (holy crap). It simmers well, burns hot when that's what you need, and the shiny brass 19th century look is damned cool.