Alcohol causing sleep disruption - could it be sleep apnea?

In the last year or two I've developed a problem with sleeping after I've had a drink of alcohol. It doesn't matter if it's two small bottles of lager, a bottle of wine or a few glasses of vodka and coke and whether I've drank hours before I go to bed or shortly before, but I'll wake up several hours after falling asleep, ranging from 3 to 5AM. My heart beat will be going frantic and I'll remain awake for one hour. I'll feel physically and mentally tired but can not return to sleep.

My theories have ranged from lack of water (I drink plenty and have tried drinking a lot before bed) to stress on a subconscious level (My life isn't perfect but there's still a lot for me to be happy about) to trying different types of alcohol (Lager, wine, cider, vodka) to taking herbal sleeping remedies (They make no difference if I've had a drink).

While my mother had pulmonary hypertension and my father has angina, I have had several blood and blood pressure tests done after which two doctors have concluded that I'm fine and healthy. My dad has now suggested it could be sleep apnea which is related to breathing problems during sleep. Naturally I'm cautious about jumping to conclusions, but on reading about it on wikipedia a lot of the symptoms (i.e. alcohol) makes sense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apnea

What do you think? And how can I go about getting it examined in the UK?