Ideas for wine/beer based sig drinks

wabanzi · February 2014

We have been planning a wine/beer/ 2 signature drinks bar (plus a non-alcoholic signature drink, lemonade, iced tea, coffee). We were very happy with our choices. Our venue is a historic site which allows alcohol/bar stocking with a state permit and licensed bartender(s).

But after navigating through our state's liquor permit requirements, it looks like bringing in hard liquor is very difficult and could easily double our bar budget. The wine/beer permit is easy and cheap. So we might need to switch to a beer/wine bar only, but do not want to give up on having 2 alcohol based signature drinks.

Other than sangria, do any of you have a recipe for a wine- (or beer-) based cocktail that you have tried and liked? The problem here is I do not drink --at all, and therefore can't experiment with different recipes. Although I fully plan to experiment on FI :-)

Thanks in advance.

dolewhipper · February 2014

You can go with champagne and there are a TON! Google Wine cocktails or champagne cocktails. Here are a few: http://www.yummly.com/recipes/wine-cocktails-without-liquor

dolewhipper · February 2014

And there are some with beer: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/drinking/beer/top5_beercocktails

A Shandy is most popular with the Brits, and you can do wine spritzers. Get creative with the flavors; ciders come in all fruity flavors and framboise is very sweet raspberry tasting. Even if you don't drink, you can always taste and spit, which most do at tastings or when learning drink recipes.

wabanzi · February 2014

shannonmaya said:

You can go with champagne and there are a TON! Google Wine cocktails or champagne cocktails. Here are a few: http://www.yummly.com/recipes/wine-cocktails-without-liquor

Thank you! This was my first thought as well. Champagne with white punches look lovely too. You're right about a ton of recipes for them, I got a bit overwhelmed look through them all last night. I am trying to get a feel for what people actually like without turning FI into an alcoholic through recipe experimentation, ha ha.

chibiyui · February 2014

I once had a beermosa (Beer and orange juice) at an airport and it was actually good! (I don't drink beer) So, you know. There's something.

Sangrias are lovely though.

Cookie Pusher · February 2014

chibiyui said:

I once had a beermosa (Beer and orange juice) at an airport and it was actually good! (I don't drink beer) So, you know. There's something.

Sangrias are lovely though.

Someone was telling me about the beermosa thing, said they made it with Miller High Life, I think?

BlueBirdMB · February 2014

Sangria typically has brandy in it, so that may not be an option. I believe white sangria's do not have brandy.

Champagne cocktail: Champagne, sugar cube, bitters

Bellini: Peach juice, champagne

Mimosa

Eh, I don't know what's it's called because I just made it: Champagne, lemon juice, sugar, mint

Wine spritzer: Wine and club soda, or ginger ale is also lovely

Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail: Pomegranate juice and champagne- one of my favs!

Can you do liqueurs? If you can, there are a ton more options available to you.

wabanzi · February 2014

BlueBirdMB said:

Sangria typically has brandy in it, so that may not be an option. I believe white sangria's do not have brandy.

Champagne cocktail: Champagne, sugar cube, bitters
Bellini: Peach juice, champagne
Mimosa
Eh, I don't know what's it's called because I just made it: Champagne, lemon juice, sugar, mint
Wine spritzer: Wine and club soda, or ginger ale is also lovely
Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail: Pomegranate juice and champagne- one of my favs!

Can you do liqueurs? If you can, there are a ton more options available to you.

Hmm. You are about the 5th person to mention the pomegranate champagne cocktail. I think that may be a winner. Plus, we will already be serving sparkling pomegranate for the toast/cocktail hour for those who do not want champagne.

Thank you all for your feed back. I've heard of the beer/juice combo before, some call it a shandy I think (or something close to that anyway). But usually when I think of beer cocktails, I think of two or three beers mixed together like a black & tan, or wheat & raspberry ale.

CrazyCatBride · February 2014

Love Shandy!
http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/993359/shandy-lemonade-and-beer-cocktail-recipe

http://www.cooks.com/recipe/k99q05r0/raspberry-champagne-punch.html

Llikotdesserd · March 2014

What about something like Bud Light's Cran-brrr-ita? It's delicious, and mimics the cranberry taste you'd find in a vodka-cranberry. Or the Strawbrrrita or the Lime-a-rita! Technically a beer product, but the concept of a mixed drink!

QueerFemme · March 2014

Our venue only allowed beer & wine, no hard liquor so we were in the same situation. We had two different types of beer and three wines as well as two signature drinks, made from wine.

We did a red sangria and just skipped the brandy. You really couldn't tell the difference. We also did a white wine, raspberry lemonade spritzer. We mixed two sweet white wines with "Simply lemonade raspberry" and put fresh raspberries in it, and added in gingerale to give it a little fizz. It was DEEEEELISH.

Mitch617 · March 2014

I think sangria and bellinis would be crowd pleases and very pretty!

wabanzi · March 2014

Thank you all so much for sharing. In this roller-coaster ride called wedding planning, we actually found a bartender with the appropriate license who will bartend for us, without charging us retail prices for drinks. We will still provide all the alcohol/bar, he will provide the license & bar tending services and thus everything will be legal with serving hard alcohol.

But I do believe some of these wine cocktails/punches will have to be on the menu because they sound so amazing and I believe our guests will enjoy the expanded menu. So thank you all again!

Ideas for wine/beer based sig drinks

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