We established a method based on a luminescence system driven by NADH conversion to quantitatively detect ethanol in alcoholic beverages. NADH produced by an ADH-catalyzed enzymatic reaction was used as an indicator to directly quantify luminescence in vitro. A strong linear relationship (R2 = 0.9942) was observed between the luminescence intensity and ethanol concentration over a range of 0.002–0.1 mol L−1, providing a detection limit of 1.43 × 10−4 mol L−1 for ethanol. This system has advantages such as rapid detection, high specificity, and repeatability in operation; therefore, it could be an advantageous alternative method for accurate quantification of ethanol content in beer, and may be suitable for other applications in the food industry.
