There is growing evidence that caffeine may alter the pattern of intake of a variety of drugs. The present study was designed to assess the effect of caffeine pretreatment on voluntary ethanol consumption. The first experiment examined the effect of caffeine on the acquisition of ethanol intake in a limited-access-choice procedure in which water and ethanol were presented concurrently. Male Wistar rats, exposed to food and water ad lib, were presented with a daily 1-h choice session between water and progressively increasing concentrations of ethanol (2-10%). Each ethanol concentration was made available for 4-6 days for a total of 20 days of access to ethanol. Intraperitoneal injections of caffeine (5 or 10 mg/kg) or saline were administered to the rats 30 min prior to each choice session. Caffeine produced a dose-related facilitation in ethanol drinking whereby the lower caffeine dose produced enhancement in ethanol drinking. The second experiment examined the effect of caffeine on the maintenance of established ethanol consumption. Male Wistar rats, initially acclimatized to increasing concentrations of ethanol (2%-10), were presented with an additional 18 ethanol (10%) presentations, comprised of a 6-day baseline period followed by 6 days of treatment where animals were given one of three doses of caffeine (2.5, 5 or 10 mg/kg) or saline prior to ethanol presentation. A final 6-day post-treatment period followed treatment. These results revealed an inverted-U effect of caffeine dose on ethanol ingestion where the low and high caffeine doses produced no effect but the moderate dose of 5 mg/kg enhanced ethanol drinking that persisted throughout the post-treatment period. A third experiment revealed that caffeine did not alter levels of blood ethanol within the time period used for the ethanol drinking session.