The episode was written by Ian Brennan, directed by Eric Stoltz and first aired in the United States on Fox on February 22, 2011.

Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) throws a party for the glee club students where almost everyone gets drunk; the partygoers wake up to hangovers, and must perform various songs about alcohol while still under the influence.

The assembly ends abruptly when a song that seems to glorify alcohol is interrupted by two of the singers vomiting over the others, which scares the entire high school into avoiding drunkenness.

Concerned about recent underage drinking incidents at McKinley High, Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) schedules a cautionary assembly and commissions the glee club to perform a song about the dangers of alcohol.

The attendees—except for Kurt and Finn—get drunk, and Rachel and Blaine share a long kiss during a game of Spin the Bottle, after which they perform "Don't You Want Me" as a karaoke duet.

Club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is impressed with their "realistic acting", but thinks the song is inappropriate for the assembly as it glorifies drinking.

Football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) prevails on Will to join her in a night out at a cowboy bar to reduce their stress; they perform the song "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer".

At the assembly, New Directions perform Kesha's "Tik Tok", but the song comes to an abrupt end when Brittany (Heather Morris) and Santana (Naya Rivera) throw up from intoxication.

Will realizes that it is hypocritical to tell the students not to abuse alcohol when he does so himself, and convinces the entire club to pledge not to drink until after their upcoming Nationals competition.

"Blame It on the Alcohol" was written by co-creator Ian Brennan and directed by Eric Stoltz in his second time as a Glee director, his first outing having been the acclaimed fourth episode of the season, "Duets".

A blind item about a "popular gay character" wondering if he might be bisexual after an "encounter" was published on February 10, 2011, by Michael Ausiello, Editor in Chief of the entertainment news website TVLine.

[2] Glee showrunner and co-creator Ryan Murphy sent an email to the Perez Hilton website, published on February 14, that stated, "Blaine is NOT bi.

[5] The episode featured cover versions of "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League, sung by Criss and Michele; "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" by Rudy Toombs, as recorded by George Thorogood, sung by Morrison and Jones; "Tik Tok" by Kesha, performed by Morris and New Directions, and "Blame It" by Jamie Foxx and T-Pain in a rendition by New Directions with Amber Riley and Kevin McHale as leads.

Recurring guest stars who appear in the episode include glee club members Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.), Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) and Lauren Zizes (Ashley Fink), cheerleader Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter), football coach Shannon Beiste (Jones), Principal Figgins (Theba) and Kurt's friend from Dalton Academy, Blaine Anderson (Criss).

[9] With its Canadian broadcast, also on February 22, 2011, "Blame It on the Alcohol" drew 1.89 million viewers and placed fourteenth in the weekly program rankings.

[11] In Australia, the episode was watched by 1.02 million viewers on March 7, 2011, which made Glee the sixth most-watched show of the night and twentieth of the week.

"[15] IGN's Robert Canning gave the episode a "great" rating of 8 out of 10, and called the main storyline "comical and human".

"[20] Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times saw the show's message differently from Semigran, and wrote, "Leave it to Glee to tackle a potentially joyless, didactic topic like teenage drinking and somehow manage to entertain and surprise and get its important life lessons across.

"[21] Time's Richard Corliss called it a "breezy, sharply written episode" and rated it in the "high-middle range" for the show.

Canning made mention of "a great conversation between Blaine and Kurt that felt very real for kids in this situation" and noted he was "glad it wasn't an easy talk for either of them".

[16] The Houston Chronicle's Bobby Hankinson agreed, and said of their "debate over the existence of bisexuality" that "it was refreshing to see Glee portray a conversation like it really goes down in reality.

[19][25] Blaine's "sudden confusion over his sexual orientation" was deemed a "false note" by Reiter, who called his "overwrought speech" at the Lima Bean "off-key".

[21] Harper was unhappy that "major plot points like a gay character thinking he might be bi or straight get instigated, sorted out and wrapped up within an hour", and said she thought it was "hurtful" for Blaine to "accept a date with Kurt's friend" after he and Kurt had "agreed to sort of work on a potential relationship between the two of them" in the "Silly Love Songs" episode.

[19][20] Reiter characterized "Sue throwing Aural Intensity's 'chipper homosexual' choir director down the stairs, twice" as a "false note" and said it was "particularly difficult to take", though VanDerWerff called it "kind of funny".