Alcohol?

sarack · February 2010

I have a few questions. First, I love the drink calculator on evite.com. Its the best.

It tells me for 90 average drinkers for a 5 hour party I need 270 cans/bottles of beer and 54 bottles of wine.

I don't drink. I know nothing about wine or beer. I know that a few of my friends like wine and I know the beer that they will drink. I don't want to spend a ton of money on alcohol but I want it available. I've heard about 3 buck chuck from TJ.

What two beers should I serve? A regular and a light?

I know I need a white and a red wine, would 3 buck chuck be ok?

Do you think kegs are tacky? (The alcohol will be outside on the patio and will be served by a bartender, no keg stands for us)

I read that there are approximately 165 cans/bottles of beer in one keg, if I only need 270, what should I do?

Where are the best deals you've found for beer and wine? Any places that will return? Discounts? Where do you get a keg??

HELP!

TIA!

hfbellefille · February 2010

I'll try to help.

1) That sounds like a lot of alcohol to me. For 90 guests, you're at 3 beers a piece and half a bottle of wine. I think that's a lot to estimate for every single guest. And I'm a pretty big drinker. Sure, your FI's frat brothers might have 10 beers (hopefully not), but is your grandmother going to polish off three beers and then share an entire bottle of wine with your grandfather? If you're using a professional bartender, I might consult him/her about the amount you need.

2) I don't think kegs are tacky when they are served. Obviously, red solo cups are probably out, but if a bartender is handing me a clear plastic (or glass) glass of beer, I don't really care if he served it from a keg or from a bottle. He may also prefer a keg, I think they are easier to serve high quanities from.

3) The Pony Keg! It's half the volume of a full keg, so might get you to just the right amount.

4) On types of, I'd go with something "regular" and something light, but ask around with your friends who drink. If you can afford it, I'd get things that aren't Bud, Bud Light, Miller, etc. but that's just because I don't like them. Blue Moon is a nice beer that a lot of people like, and I don't think a keg of it is a ton more expensive that Bud. If it's in the budget, I might even do three pony kegs of three different types, just to give more variety.

5) On two/three-buck chuck, again, I'd ask around with friends/guests whose opinions you care about. IMO, the white is passable (but not good) and the red is pretty bad. But that's just my opinion, and reflects the way I generally feel about wine (a red needs to be pretty nice before I really enjoy it, where I find cheap whites less bad). There are a number of other not-very-expensive (but more expensive than Chuck) wines out there. I think Barefoot and Yellowtail are both better. Also, try Costco for good deals, or call around to some wine stores to see how deep a discount you can get if you buy by the case.

I hope that helps!

hfbellefille · February 2010

Realized I missed your question about where to get a keg. I think most liquor stores carry them, call around to get the best price. Usually they need a bit of notice (like a few days) to get one.

This should be obvious, but kegs are REALLY heavy - bring some manpower (or really strong womanpower

) if you are getting it yourself. Take it from the girl who nearly threw her back out moving one with a friend in college.

carrieoz_76 · February 2010

We've ordered kegs from local bars before. You usually have to leave a deposit on the keg itself, but you'll get it back when you return the empty keg. Just call around to some of your local bars/taverns and see if they'll let you buy a keg off of them. And yea, they're heavy. You'll need a couple strong guys, and hopefully someone with a roomy vehicle.

I'd at least do a full keg of something, and maybe a pony keg of something else. If it were us, we'd do a keg of an affordable microbrew that we like (Manny's or Mac n Jack's, maybe even Blue Moon (which I love)), and maybe a pony keg of a light beer.

therickson · February 2010

Pyramid and Red Hook will also have some kegs but may be more pricey... I am not sure where you live but Dawgpound (used to be Husky Bev) has kegs (at least they used to!)

Trader Joes is a great place for wine even if you do not do the $3 chuck... Even if you are not a drinker could you get some friends together and have a wine tasting party? Just get some of their cheaper wines and test them!!

One of my favorite whites is about $6 - Snoqualmie Sav Blanc

As far as beer... I always find Hef to be popular! You could do that and a lighter beer... Or buy a bunch from Costco and have a good selection...

therickson · February 2010

Oh wait!!! What about this...

http://www.whereubrew.com/

I would do this if I could... Instead I am buying if for FI birthday! You could do 2 different kinds

angstocker22 · February 2010

I agree with hfbellefille .... but I just wanted to add that while pricing food out at a few local restaurants, I came across Mama Stortini (there's on at Kent Station that I go to often), they had really great prices for Kegs.
To find the best deal on Kegs, call your local pubs, bars, etc... ask if they sell Kegs WITH A TAP - cause you will need one. Most bars don't lend out their taps. That's why it is best to go thru a restaurant because you get the whole package. Also, a keg must be bought & settled for a few days, otherwise when used it will just produce foam. We've rented many kegs in the past from local bars. I love to entertain and have big parties in the summer. And my fam & FI's fam are all big drinkers.
I would suggest getting Bud Light & a darker beer, like an IPA. Those both seem to be really common.
My MOH had $2 buck chuck @ her wedding & no one complained... I was prob. going to have it at mine too. Hey - what do they have to complain about - Free dinner & free booze - they can shush up

hee hee

Alo822 · February 2010

That evite calculator sounds a bit generous to me, but depending on whether people are heavy drinkers, I suppose it could be right! I've never bought a keg, but you might try a local microbrewery. I think it is perfectly fine to have a keg (as long as there are none of the aforementioned keg stands!). As far as wine goes, I second the suggestion about checking out Costco. I like TJ's wine but I'm not too picky... I definitely like the suggestion about having a tasting party!

jennuinne · February 2010

I did research when we were thinking about getting our own alcohol. Here are a couple more useful websites. They give different info, so maybe you could average it out. One also breaks down wine by red & white.

http://www.thepartysource.com/spirits_calc.php

http http://www.perfect-party-planning.net/drinks_calculator.html

A keg = 15 ½ gallons = 141 cups

Keg is $100-$150 (rental costs, depends on beer)

I like wine and I think you can get it affordably, like a nice wine for about $6. But as pp suggested, I would ask your guests that drink wine/beer what they like (not many of my friends drink light beer) and/or do some taste testing. From what I remember, the wine stores had deals but carrried expensive wines. If your going for a cheaper wine, I think a grocery store is the way to go.

Tygirljojo · February 2010

We were going to do the 3 buck Chuck, but FI voiced he's not much of a fan of their reds, so now we're looking at the 1.5L (large) bottles of wine. Costco sells them for about $11each which makes them on par with $5.5 per regular sized (750 ml) bottle. We bought the cab merlot blend to try and FI likes it. It's not bad, I prefer smoother wines, so we may look to getting a CA Zin for another red. Neither of us really likes Chardonnay but apparently that's a staple, so I'm going to try to find a nice, sweeter Chardonnay and we'll likely get a Sauvignon Blanc as the other white. I'm on the fence with serving White Zin or White Merlot as a rose.

As for beer, we're both beer drinkers. We both love Red Hook's Slim Chance despite it being a "light" and we'll hopefully get that as the light beer. I want to get a hef as the regular beer because I just think a good micro with a citrus in it would be great for a summer evening and we both enjoy hefeweizens, although I do love Blue Moon as well with a wedge of orange! We're anticipating 90 attending guests will be drinking as average drinkers and as such, we're going to get 2 full kegs, one of the regular and one of the light, but we're planning on having them for the RD as well, so we'll likely use it up.

sarack · February 2010

thanks for all the advice. we are having more than 90 guests.. and more than 90 that drink.. i just put 90 average.. i know it is generous but i'd rather have more than less.

dreamwinds · February 2010

As reference, the venue we're looking at averaged 10 glasses of liquor per person, which is just way too much for our party.

But for reference, for 90 guests, we got an estimate of 55 bottles of wine, 270 bottles of beer, 270 cocktails, and 20 bottles of champagne. Realistically (even overestimating just a smidge cause I prefer a little more than not enough), we estimated 50 bottles of wine, 100 bottles of beer, 103 cocktails, and 20 bottles of champagne. But half our party doesn't drink and the rest are incredibly moderate 4-6 glasses over 7 hours type drinkers.

Alcohol?

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