Alcohol Vendors

JennyLange

FI and I are starting to look into vendors to provide alcohol and beverages for our reception, as we are required to bring in any beverages ourselves at our reception site. We realized that we have no idea how to pick a vendor for this, or where to really start. Our reception site did recommend a couple of places, but our experience with their recommendations is that they have been a bit high for our budget. We were thinking of just going to Costco a few times until the reception to start stocking up, but we thought we should look into a better place also. Did anyone have a great experience with their beverage/alcohol vendor? How did you choose a vendor for this?
We are inviting 200 guests, and we are looking for a little more than beer and wine- we'd like to have some basic hard liquors available as well, but nothing too crazy, if that helps. Delivery would be a bonus too, but by no means is it something we need. Our reception is in St. Paul, but we live in the northwest suburbs, so pretty much anywhere in the cities is fine. TIA!

SuperRNluvsChef

I don't have any vendors to recommend but I'd look into stores that allow you to return unopened container/untapped kegs.  Our venue recommend a liquor store down the street that allows this.  As for serving it, our venue also recommend hiring bartending students.  I believe they told us they work for about $12/hour but I could be wrong.  HTH, sorry I didn't have more recommendations. 

Steph0871

I can't help too much, because we hopped the border to WI to pick up our kegs (so much cheaper... and I wanted a microbrew that's only sold in WI.)

Definitely make sure you can return unused liquor/wine/etc, too.

We used MN School of Bartending for our reception, too.  They were $12/hr.  I think we just paid them each $100 with tip for 6 hours or so.

I Want Cake

We also need to buy all our liquor ourselves, but our venue provides bartenders.  We haven't looked into any stores yet, but as PPs have said, make sure they'll take returns on unopened bottles/cases.

Also, since you're providing your own and will be buying it ahead of time, DO NOT buy any beer/champagne that's already chilled.  Between it warming up after you buy it and then chilling it again at the venue, it can go flat.  I wouldn't doubt if liquor stores wouldn't take returns on bottles that have been chilled, too.  It might be different if you're having it all delivered, but if you're doing this yourself, it'd be a good thing to keep in mind.

hkiesling

Leo Hoye Liquor Inc
(651) 774-7500‎
Payne Ave, St. Paul

This is our local liquor store, and after DH did some comparison shopping, they beat all of the other places.  We had a fully stocked bar for 120 people (some kids) and I think we spent around $650 - $700.  I don't remember off the top of my head.  That included soda, juice, wine, beer, hard liquor, water, and extras like cherries.  They helped us to select inexpensive but good brands, had recommendations on quantity, and even let us return anything that was unopened.  I hightly recommend them.

graysquirrel

Are you buying it all yourself or looking to hire someone to bring it all? If you're buying your own items, like bulk soda or beer, I would look into 4th of July sales for things that will keep. Beverages get crazy low in price on that day, and you can get a ton for less. That is what we're planning to do since we're providing all our own. Just an idea. 

JennyLange

Thanks for all the advice! We'll be sure to find a place that will take back unopened bottles, and I didn't even think to ask about taking back beer that has been chilled! So we'll be sure to ask about that too. 
We'd be open to either buying it ourselves and stocking up or finding a place that will deliver, or maybe a combo. Whatever is cheapest and easiest! We even talked about going straight to the breweries to see if we can get any deals- Schell's and Summit were on our list of possibilities. We'll have to be sure to check out deals around the 4th too- I didn't think about that either!  
Thanks for all the help again!