Alcohol use disorder is a chronic relapsing and remitting condition, where relapse to drinking is often triggered by an intense desire for alcohol (i.e., ethanol; craving) and the consequent motivation to obtain ethanol (seeking). Environmental stimuli (cues) associated with past ethanol use are believed to strongly contribute to relapse, as exposure to these cues can trigger intense feelings of craving and drive ethanol seeking. Thus, the broad goal of this dissertation was to identify the neurocircuitry underlying cue-induced ethanol-seeking behavior, as indexed through an ethanol-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure. Focus was placed on examining two distinct brain regions – the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) – and their adjoining (BNSTàVTA) neural circuit. These regions have been previously shown to underlie appetitive behaviors on an individual and circuit level.