Long term ethanol consumption results in phenotypic changes to NK cells. After acclimation, mice were maintained on ethanol for one or eight weeks, splenocytes were stained for Ly49C/I, Ly49D, Ly49G2 or Ly49I (FITC) or stained for Ly49H or Ly49A (biotin-streptavidin PerCP). Lymphocytes were gated on CD3− NK1.1+ NK cells and Ly49 expression was examined. There was no significant difference in any of these markers at one week. Mice which have consumed alcohol for 8 weeks demonstrate significantly reduced expression of nearly all Ly49 receptors except Ly49A and Ly49G2. The p values for Ly49C/I/F/H, Ly49D, Ly49H, Ly49I and Ly49C/I were 0.0054, 0.0355, 0.0060, 0.0326 and 0.0266 respectively.