Quick answer
Alcohol itself shows up in blood, breath and saliva for up to about 12–24 hours and in urine for about 12 hours. EtG urine tests can detect drinking for up to about 2 days, or 3–5 days after heavy drinking, and hair tests for months.
How long will it show up on a drug test?
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1 Substance
2 Type of test
3 How often
Usually detectable in urine · Alcohol · one night / light drinking
Up to about 12 hours, or 1–2 days with an EtG test
A basic urine alcohol test only finds alcohol for 7–12 hours. EtG tests look for a breakdown product and can stay positive for up to about 48 hours after moderate drinking.
- What the test looks for
- Ethanol itself (breath, blood), or the breakdown products EtG and EtS (urine, hair)
- On standard drug tests?
- Not on standard 5-panel drug tests. EtG has to be ordered separately.
- How fast it clears
- No true half-life: the body clears alcohol at a steady rate of about 0.015% BAC per hour on average.
Estimates, not a guarantee. Dose, how often and how long someone has used, body fat, hydration, metabolism and the lab’s cutoff all change the window. No calculator can tell you how a specific test will come out.
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How long does alcohol stay in your urine, blood and hair?
| Test | One night / light drinking | Heavy or daily drinking |
|---|---|---|
| Urine | Up to about 12 hours, or 1–2 days with an EtG test | Up to about 3–5 days with an EtG test |
| Blood | A few hours, up to about 12 hours | Up to about 24 hours after very heavy drinking |
| Saliva | Up to about 12 hours | Up to about 24 hours |
| Hair | Usually not detected after one occasion | Up to about 3–6 months |
How fast does the body get rid of alcohol?
Unlike most drugs, alcohol leaves the body at a fairly steady rate no matter how much you drank. On average, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) drops by about 0.015% per hour, roughly one standard drink per hour. The normal range is wider, from about 0.010% to 0.035% per hour, and people who drink heavily often clear alcohol faster.
That means someone who reaches a BAC of 0.08%, the legal driving limit, needs about 5–6 hours to get back to zero. After a very heavy night with a BAC of 0.20% or more, alcohol can still be in the blood more than 12 hours later, which is why people can still be over the limit the next morning. Coffee, cold showers and sleep do not speed this up.
How long does alcohol stay in your urine?
A basic urine alcohol test finds alcohol itself for about 7–12 hours after drinking. Most programs that check for drinking now use EtG and EtS tests instead, which look for breakdown products that stay in urine much longer.
What is an EtG test?
Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS) are made when the body processes alcohol. EtG tests are common in treatment programs, probation, family court and professional monitoring programs because they can show drinking from the past few days even after the alcohol is gone.
- After light or moderate drinking, EtG is usually detectable for up to about 48 hours, and sensitivity drops after 24 hours with light drinking.
- In heavy drinkers entering detox, EtG stayed positive for 40–130 hours (median 78 hours) after the last drink.
- The cutoff matters: tests set at 100 or 200 ng/mL catch far more drinking than tests set at 500 ng/mL.
Because EtG tests are so sensitive, heavy exposure to alcohol-based products can cause positive results in people who did not drink. In one study, breathing in hand-sanitizer vapor produced positive EtG results in non-drinkers. Mouthwash and other products are a known concern, so monitoring programs usually tell people to avoid them.
Alcohol in breath and saliva
Breathalyzers and saliva tests measure alcohol that is in the body right now, and both track blood alcohol closely. They usually turn negative within about 12 hours, or up to about 24 hours after very heavy drinking. They are used to show recent drinking or impairment, not use from days ago.
Alcohol in hair
Hair cannot be tested for alcohol itself, but it can be tested for EtG. Hair EtG is designed to show repeated drinking over months, not one night out. Under the Society of Hair Testing guidelines, a result over 30 pg/mg in the first 3–6 cm of hair strongly suggests chronic heavy drinking.
What affects how long alcohol stays in your system?
- How much you drank. Because alcohol clears at a steady rate, more drinks means more hours, almost one for one.
- Body size and sex. People with less body water reach a higher BAC from the same drinks, so it takes longer to clear.
- Food. Drinking on an empty stomach makes BAC rise faster and peak higher.
- Drinking history. Heavy drinking raises both EtG levels and how long they last.
Not sure whether your drinking is a problem? Take our free 2-minute alcohol quiz, based on the WHO AUDIT screening test.
When a drug test is the least of your worries
If you are looking this up because you are worried about an upcoming test, it may be worth asking a bigger question: is your use starting to cost you something, such as your job, your health, money or relationships? Needing to plan around a drug test is itself a sign some people use to decide it is time for help.
Treatment is more flexible than most people expect. Outpatient programs let you keep working, and many plans cover rehab under federal parity rules. You can get matched with up to 3 programs in about a minute, browse rehab centers by state, or call the number on this page to talk it through. It is free and confidential.
Detection times for other substances
See every substance side by side on our drug detection times chart.
Frequently asked questions
How long does alcohol stay in your urine?
Alcohol itself is detectable in urine for about 7–12 hours. EtG tests, which look for an alcohol breakdown product, can detect drinking for up to about 48 hours after moderate drinking and 3–5 days after heavy drinking.
How long does it take for one drink to leave your system?
On average, the body clears about one standard drink per hour, lowering BAC by about 0.015% per hour. A breathalyzer would usually read zero within a few hours of a single drink.
Can an EtG test detect one drink?
Sometimes, if the test is taken within about a day and uses a low cutoff. EtG tests are much better at detecting moderate or heavy drinking than a single drink, especially after 24 hours.
Can hand sanitizer or mouthwash cause a positive EtG test?
Heavy exposure can. Studies have found positive EtG results from breathing in hand-sanitizer vapor. That is why monitoring programs usually ask people to avoid alcohol-based products and why low positive results are interpreted with care.
Is it dangerous to stop drinking suddenly?
For people who drink heavily every day, yes. Alcohol withdrawal can cause seizures and delirium tremens, which can be life-threatening. A doctor or medical detox program can help you stop safely.
Sources
- Jones AW. Evidence-based survey of the elimination rates of ethanol from blood. Forensic Sci Int (2010)
- Ethanol Toxicity. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
- Helander A et al. Detection times for urinary EtG and EtS in heavy drinkers during alcohol detoxification. Alcohol Alcohol (2009)
- Jatlow PI et al. Ethyl glucuronide and ethyl sulfate assays in clinical trials. Alcohol Clin Exp Res (2014)
- Arndt T et al. Inhalation of hand sanitizer ethanol causes positive EtG findings in urine. Forensic Sci Int (2014)
- Society of Hair Testing. 2019 Consensus for the use of alcohol markers in hair
- Hadland SE, Levy S. Objective Testing: Urine and Other Drug Tests. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am (2016)
- Moeller KE et al. Clinical Interpretation of Urine Drug Tests. Mayo Clinic Proceedings (2017)
- SAMHSA. TAP 32: Clinical Drug Testing in Primary Care (2012)
