Venue Bar

Knottie1443576616 · October 2015

Ok here is the bar list for our venue it is $8 more for Premium bar. We have 150 people at our wedding. Is the premium bar worth it? are the house brands horrible?

House Brands	Premium Brands	Top Shelf Brands
Sobieski Vodka	Stoli Vodka	Grey Goose Vodka
Burnetts Vodka	Ketel One Vodka	Belvedere Vodka
Sauza Tequila	Absolut Vodka	Johnny Walker Black
Jim Beam	Ceurvo Tequila	Petrone Tequila
	Captain Morgan Rum	Jameson Whiskey
VO	Jack Daniels	Sapphire Gin
Canadian Club		Tanqueray 10 Gin
Seagrams 7	Beefeater Gin	Chivas Regal
Burnetts Gin	Tanqueray Gin	Crown Royal
Baccardi Rum	Southern Comfort
Castillo Rum

levioosa · October 2015

I will say one thing: Burnett's vodka is literally the worst vodka I have ever had. It was so bad I threw it away because I couldn't justify taking it to a house party and letting other people drink it. I drink, so my opinion might be biased, but I would pay more for the premium. The only things I would drink from the house are bacardi and seagrams.

Before I fully support the premium bar though, what does your budget look like? Is this a make or break for you?

kimmiinthemitten · October 2015

Negotiate....I'm with PP Burnetts ruins everything it touches. I would ask to keep the base bar package and swap Burnetts Vodka for Stoli and Burnetts Gin for Beefeater. The worst they can do is say no. The best they can do is an even swap . And most likely, you'll be charged a dollar or two more per person and get rid of the lighter fluid.

Maggie0829 · October 2015

If I could swing it budget wise I would do the premium. I would even be willing to cut back on some other things to have the higher level bar. Remember food/drinks are more important to your guests then decor.

TheCheeseWench · October 2015

I have used Sobieski for infusions (you can't taste the booze in the amount of the infusions we use for cocktails) but yeah Burnett's is pretty awful. I have to question a venue that can't spell Patrón but had no issue tacking a 2-tier charge onto it. I would either try to negotiate a different line up as a PP said, or maybe even consider just beer and wine. I have seen too many people get screwed on the bill with hard alcohol options (I have seen a couple find out that they were charged for house or premium but their guests were served "well"), so to me I wonder if it's even worth it. Of course, I say that coming from someone who just had her wedding at a venue that did not offer hard alcohol, but I think I would have had to take a hard look at the options before making my decision if they had.

Jen4948 · October 2015

If you can afford it, go with the premium.

JediElizabeth · October 2015

Agree with PP, but I'd add that Sauza tequila is just bottled bad behavior. It reminds me of the very worst of my college party experiences.

Cookie Pusher · October 2015

We did a mix of top shelf and premium at our wedding, and it was worth the extra cost. I agree with PPs that you should see if they'd be willing to negotiate with you. For me personally, I would be fine serving Bacardi to my guests, but would rather drink paint thinner than serve them Burnetts.

banana468 · October 2015

I have to say that the house brands look REALLY cheap. Like, $5 a cup gets you all the jungle juice you want and a frat boy hanging on you cheap. If you can swing it, I'd at least go to the middle tier.

And it's concerning to me when an establishment is not spelling brands correctly on documents that they put out to customers.

levioosa · October 2015

Burnett's vodka is literally $8.99 a bottle at Trader Joe's. Any vodka that cheap is not worth it.

Ditto pps on all of the spelling errors.

Knottie80779227 · October 2015

If you can afford it, the Premium bar definitely looks better. However, if you can't afford the entire jump to the next level, work with you're venue and see if they can swap out (ex. the cheapest vodka for the absolut). I did something similar where I went with the base bar package but I changed out the wine selection and removed a few items (we did not want tequila on my bar at all) so I could put some better quality alcohol on the list. It ended up raising my price $3 a person compared to $12 a person, which was the jump to the next list.

CharmedPam · October 2015

Agreed with Burnett's opinion.

Here's my question, because I upgraded myself but never asked this. When you upgrade is it common practice to offer both the house and premium or just premium?

monkeysip · October 2015

I'm pretty sure we went with the house list, not premium list, at our venue, but they were pretty good liquors. If you can afford it, I agree with others with upgrading to premium, or at least trying to negotiate a couple of the liquors. Vodka is the base of so many mixed drinks, so a rubbing alcohol kind of vodka is going to ruin a lot of people's drinks.

monkeysip · October 2015

TheCheeseWench said:

I have used Sobieski for infusions (you can't taste the booze in the amount of the infusions we use for cocktails) but yeah Burnett's is pretty awful. I have to question a venue that can't spell Patrón but had no issue tacking a 2-tier charge onto it. I would either try to negotiate a different line up as a PP said, or maybe even consider just beer and wine. I have seen too many people get screwed on the bill with hard alcohol options (I have seen a couple find out that they were charged for house or premium but their guests were served "well"), so to me I wonder if it's even worth it. Of course, I say that coming from someone who just had her wedding at a venue that did not offer hard alcohol, but I think I would have had to take a hard look at the options before making my decision if they had.

HAHA... maybe they have a special tequila named "Petrone".

As someone who doesn't even really drink but loves Patron, I'm offended by their misspelling.

Maggie0829 · October 2015

monkeysip said:

TheCheeseWench said:

I have used Sobieski for infusions (you can't taste the booze in the amount of the infusions we use for cocktails) but yeah Burnett's is pretty awful. I have to question a venue that can't spell Patrón but had no issue tacking a 2-tier charge onto it. I would either try to negotiate a different line up as a PP said, or maybe even consider just beer and wine. I have seen too many people get screwed on the bill with hard alcohol options (I have seen a couple find out that they were charged for house or premium but their guests were served "well"), so to me I wonder if it's even worth it. Of course, I say that coming from someone who just had her wedding at a venue that did not offer hard alcohol, but I think I would have had to take a hard look at the options before making my decision if they had.

HAHA... maybe they have a special tequila named "Petrone".

As someone who doesn't even really drink but loves Patron, I'm offended by their misspelling.

Petrone is the generic version of Patron

Liatris2010 · October 2015

I would make them a counter offer. $4 more a person to offer a vodka, gin, and whiskey or bourbon from the premium list. Personally, I think the difference in the rum and tequila are negligible, the the vodka, gin, and whiskey are worlds apart. The vodka and gin at least are also fairly likely to be drank without a soda or mixer, whereas the rum is ending up in coke. No one will mind the bacardi in their coke. Everyone will mind the paint thinner in their martini.

sparklepants41 · October 2015

PPs have it pretty much covered - I agree that you should definitely try to go with the Premium if you can - or at least make some swaps. I wouldn't use Burnett's to clean a wound.

Knottie1443576616 · October 2015

Thanks everyone!!! We just upgraded to the Premium package:)

CharmedPam · October 2015

Your guests will thank you

BlueBirdMB · October 2015

The vodka and tequila choices for the house are horrible. Everything else is fine. If you can swing it, I'd upgrade.

BlueBirdMB · October 2015

Just saw that you upgraded- good choice!

Kahlyla · October 2015

TheCheeseWench said:

I have used Sobieski for infusions (you can't taste the booze in the amount of the infusions we use for cocktails) but yeah Burnett's is pretty awful. I have to question a venue that can't spell Patrón but had no issue tacking a 2-tier charge onto it. I would either try to negotiate a different line up as a PP said, or maybe even consider just beer and wine. I have seen too many people get screwed on the bill with hard alcohol options (I have seen a couple find out that they were charged for house or premium but their guests were served "well"), so to me I wonder if it's even worth it. Of course, I say that coming from someone who just had her wedding at a venue that did not offer hard alcohol, but I think I would have had to take a hard look at the options before making my decision if they had.

Or Cuervo or Bacardi... frightening.

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