alcohol for signature drinks

jules3964

FI and I would like to do two signature drinks, which I suppose are more on the "lighter" side, but we each picked our personal favorite:

- mojito (white rum, lime, club soda, sugar, mint)

- greyhound (vodka, grapefruit juice)

We are providing our own alcohol for the bar. The caterer will also provide other mixers/juices/soda, so guests could potentially ask for any other drink the bartender could conceivably make with the alcohol we provide. There will also be beer, wine, and champagne available. So… if we only provide vodka and white rum for mixed drinks, do you think those are sufficient options? FI thinks it would be nice to have a whiskey or tequila available as well, but I'd like to save the money. Thoughts?

doeydo

Mmm, sounds great to me.

emz101

I think that sounds like lots of options, however if I were to have hard alcohol it would be gin.

artbyallie

IMO this is a know your crowd situation. Rum and vodka would do for pretty much all of the people I know, but some groups have your dedicated whiskey drinker or someone who always orders gin and tonic or whatever.

atlastmrsg

1) Thank you for not naming the drinks something ridiculous.  Everyone knows what a mojito is, so it'll be easy to order.  Unfortunately, since it's a wedding, some people think it needs to be "Jules in Love on the Beach in Cuba" or something like that.  *nausea

2) If I was a guest, I'd definitely have plenty of options--my go to drinks are vodka soda, gin and tonic, or white wine.  Two of the three are covered, so I'd be happy.  I'm satisfied when there's decent quality wine that I don't have to pay for.  Of note though, bourbon is really trendy right now.  If you did want to add it, it wouldn't be a hassle the way something like tequila could be (having triple sec, salt, mix for margaritas, etc.)  Many people drink their bourbon on the rocks or with just a splash of water.  It's also a more manly drink.  Seabreeze/greyhouse and mojito tend to be things that women order, IMO.

southernbelle0915

I come from a bourbon crowd. But if you don't, I think these options are great.

Honestly, I'd keep it simple. The line for the bar will go more quickly.

theartistformerlyknownas

Sounds sufficient to me. There's no rule that states you have to have everyone's favorite drink.

[Deleted User]

I think what you have is fine.  Your guests will find something they want. 

jules3964

Thanks everyone!

One more question: IF for example we decide to add bourbon to the line-up, do we need to make sure there's enough bourbon for everyone all night? I'm not sure how to split up how much of each liquor to buy. Will people be annoyed if they've been drinking bourbon, we run out, and they have to switch to something else?

southernbelle0915

I don't know if there's a black and white answer to that. It depends on your crowd. I would try to tally up how many bourbon drinkers you have, whether they're heavy or light drinkers and crunch a few numbers. Then I would over buy. Mainly because I have no problem with having leftover bourbon.

theartistformerlyknownas

Buy from a store that allows you to return unopened bottles. Then I'd probably buy about 75% of whatever your "everyone all night" number is because realistically, every single guest isn't going to drink the same thing but you don't want to run out. Rule of thumb is 1 drink per guest per hour; 100 guests x 4 hour reception = 400 drinks, so I'd buy enough for 300 servings. There are about 25 shots in a fifth of alcohol, so 300 servings is 12 fifths. If you don't have a bourbon-heavy crowd, maybe make that 50%/200 servings/8 fifths. I'd probably do enough for the signature drinks to go all night though.

jules3964

Thanks @lolo883!! That's so helpful. And good point about returning unopened bottles.

cafarrie

Is the only alcohol you are serving white rum and vodka?  If so, I would consider at least one beer option, one red wine, and one white wine - the vast majority of people will be happy with one of those three but people tend to be pickier about hard liquor preferences.  If you already have those covered then I think it's TOTALLY to have white rum and vodka as your only choices for a mixed drink.  

Edit:  I totally missed the part in your original post about beer and wine.  So I think it is perfectly acceptable and awesome to only serve the 2 hard liquors you like!!!!

jenijoyk

 jules3964 said:

Thanks @lolo883!! That's so helpful. And good point about returning unopened bottles.

I know people say this a lot on TK, but it's actually against the law for retailers to accept returns on unopened bottles. It's a federal law, and most states (I think - you can look up your own's actual rules by googling your state's ABC dept.) have updated their own state laws to be the same. Some places will do it anyway because the guy at the register doesn't know better. But definitely don't count on this. Even if when you buy the bottles and ask the guy helping you if you can return them, he might say yes not realizing it. And then when you go back a manager might not let you, regardless of what the first dude told you. Because, you know, it's illegal.

The only exception is that retailers can take returns on bottles of booze that are "unfit for human consumption". But usually a bottle has to be opened to know it's unfit, right? Anyway, I think this is why lower level peeps at retailers get confused. They'll see a manager accept a return on spoiled bottle of wine, and then wrongly tell a customer they can return unopened bottles after a party or wedding. Just wanted to put this out there so people know it's risky to rely on it!

jenijoyk

I'm sure the strictness of this varies by state and region. But here's the official line of the State of California, if anyone wants to nerd out on it. But I worked in the industry in California before and I still saw it done. So either way... just wanted to point out that if you can pull it off you're having a stroke of good luck and to take any assurances from a dude behind the register when you're buying with a grain of salt.

 

 

jules3964

jenijoyk said:

I'm sure the strictness of this varies by state and region. But here's the official line of the State of California, if anyone wants to nerd out on it. But I worked in the industry in California before and I still saw it done. So either way... just wanted to point out that if you can pull it off you're having a stroke of good luck and to take any assurances from a dude behind the register when you're buying with a grain of salt.

 

 

Thanks! I was indeed told by someone at Trader Joe's that we could return unopened bottles of wine. But, if we're not allowed to, having leftover alcohol won't be that bad of a problem anyway. Thanks for the heads-up!

wrigleyville

We had leftover alcohol, so we told our guests to grab whatever they wanted. It went over well.