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Check my booze count please :-)

indigo26indigo26 member
First Comment 5 Love Its First Anniversary Name Dropper
in Wedding Cakes & Food Forum
Wedding is in 11 days. We have 68 guests, 58 of whom are legal drinking age. We've hired a bartender to serve but we're providing the beer and wine. Ceremony starts at 4pm, caterer is packing up starting at 9pm so about 5 hours of the bar being open.

Right now we have the following:

2 cases (24 bottles) of 750ml Moscato wine
1 case (6 bottles) of 1.5L Pinot Grigio
1 case (6 bottles) of 1.5L Cabernet 
1 case (6 bottles) of 1.5L Merlot

8 suitcases (24pks) of Bud Light
6 cases (24pks) of Corona
2 cases (24pks) of a mixed Seagrams wine cooler

Do I have enough booze? If not, what should I buy more of?
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Re: Check my booze count please :-)

  • JaxInBlueJaxInBlue member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    This is a know your crowd suggestion but I might add a dark (is that the right word?) beer.  I'd be perfectly happy with the Moscato but DH would want something along the lines of Sam Adams or Yuengling.  If you've got dark beer drinkers in your crowd, you might want to cut back a little on the Bud and Corona and swap in something else.

    I think the calculation is also 2 drinks per person in the first hour, 1 after so for 58 people over 5 hours that's about 6 drinks apiece.  Using this drink calculator, that's 42 750ml bottles of wine and 140 (12oz) beer servings.  I think you've got pretty close to that.
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  • kvrunskvruns member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer

    that looks like enough to me quantity-wise. We had 64 people of drinking age and I forget the exact count but we purchased less than you and had stuff left over. Our reception was probably an hour shorter and I was surprised people drank less than I thought they would so it is of course know your crowd and how likely it is they will stay the entire time + drink a lot (are most people staying in a nearby hotel, do most have to drive, etc). In our case it wasn't attached to a hotel and the closest hotel was about a 10 min drive away (but most did not stay in a hotel) so I think the drinking was dialed back as a result.


    I do have to laugh at the 8 suitcases of Bud Light....can you take those on a plane?? hehe

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  • charlotte989875charlotte989875 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I think quantity wise you're probably good. I second @JaxInBlue about a lager beer or something darker.  I'm also curious about the moscato, this is typically a wine that people either love or hate (I'm firmly in the hate camp so I might be biased). I'd maybe switch out one case of moscato for a second case of Pinot Grigio or an unoaked Chardonnay. 
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  • STARMOON44STARMOON44 member
    First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Agree re: moscato. I would add a second case of Pinot Grigio 
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  • sparklepants41sparklepants41 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Agree with PPs about moscato - I personally don't like it, but I think it's a know your crowd type of thing. I recommend having 12 bottles of moscato, and 12 of pinot grigio.
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  • PrettyGirlLostPrettyGirlLost member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I'd do 6 bottles of the Moscato, maybe 10, and at least 12 of the Pinot Grigio.

    And I'd be careful with the drink calculators. . . you really have to know your crowd ;-)

    I had about 160 people at my wedding, and our alcohol package included 3 wines, 5 beers, and a signature drink, and was to last from 4pm-11pm, at which point the reception was technically over but the bar would reopen as a typical cash bar and would stay open until 2am if people wanted.

    This is a professional venue that hosts wedding receptions and other social events all the time. . . so I'm sure they know how to do the drink calculations. . .

    . . . we literally drank them dry!  We blew through the types of beer and wine we had selected for the reception halfway through, so they had to start serving other beer and wine options that weren't technically included in our package.  And then they ended up closing the bar at 12am because they were out!

    By the way, we had no fights, no one puking, no one breaking shit, zero incidents with drunk and disorderly people. . . don't want you guys to think we're out of  control!

    "Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends time and space."


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  • indigo26indigo26 member
    First Comment 5 Love Its First Anniversary Name Dropper
    The moscato is more for me and my friends - all of us love sweet white wines and they're always drinking my moscato when they come over for dinner. So we've got at least 15 people that I know definitely like it. 

    southernbelle0915 said:

    indigo26 said:
    Wedding is in 11 days. We have 68 guests, 58 of whom are legal drinking age. We've hired a bartender to serve but we're providing the beer and wine. Ceremony starts at 4pm, caterer is packing up starting at 9pm so about 5 hours of the bar being open.

    Right now we have the following:

    2 cases (24 bottles) of 750ml Moscato wine   96 glasses
    1 case (6 bottles) of 1.5L Pinot Grigio   48 glasses
    1 case (6 bottles) of 1.5L Cabernet   48 glasses 
    1 case (6 bottles) of 1.5L Merlot   48 glasses

    8 suitcases (24pks) of Bud Light   192 cans
    6 cases (24pks) of Corona    144 bottles
    2 cases (24pks) of a mixed Seagrams wine cooler    48 bottles

    Do I have enough booze? If not, what should I buy more of?

    A bottle of wine has 5 glasses. If you pour like me, it's more like 4. :) So it's easier for me to think about this in terms of servings (which, for wine, I took the liberty to use the 4/bottle calculation).

    To me, this says you have a moderate drinking crowd (assuming your reception is around 4 hours). And that your people are majority light beer drinking crowd and that very few people like red wine. If that's correct, I think you're ok.

    If not, I would consider adding more red wine, more pinot grigio vs. moscato, and swapping out the wine coolers for a darker beer (or just adding a darker beer).

    I updated your numbers - the moscato is in a regular sized wine bottle, but the others are in the double sized bottles so it should be 8 glasses per bottle, not four. Other than that you're correct - most of his friends drink light beer and we only have a handful of people that drink reds. I asked around to see if anyone wanted a darker beer, but it seemed like everyone was leaning more towards Coronas.

    I am glad to hear quantity-wise I'm good. I really didn't want to have too little or risk running out.
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  • madamerwinmadamerwin member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Sounds like you have about the same amount of beer and wine that we had for a similar number of people, but we also had 6 handles of liquor. We ended up with a LOT of wine and liquor left over, and we had a heavy drinking crowd and a longer reception.

    I think your quantities are fine, but I agree with PPs about adding a darker beer, or a pale ale - Corona and Bud Light are both very light options, and not to everyone's taste. Personally, I love IPAs, but I know not everyone does.

    Also, Merlot and Cabernet are both kind of heavy reds; what about swapping one of those out for a Pinot Noir? If you don't have a lot of red wine drinkers, what about a rose instead of two reds? We had a rose - we didn't think much of it would get used, but we actually ran out (we had 8 bottles of it, I think).
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  • ILoveBeachMusicILoveBeachMusic member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    madamerwin said:
    Sounds like you have about the same amount of beer and wine that we had for a similar number of people, but we also had 6 handles of liquor. We ended up with a LOT of wine and liquor left over, and we had a heavy drinking crowd and a longer reception.

    I think your quantities are fine, but I agree with PPs about adding a darker beer, or a pale ale - Corona and Bud Light are both very light options, and not to everyone's taste. Personally, I love IPAs, but I know not everyone does.

    Also, Merlot and Cabernet are both kind of heavy reds; what about swapping one of those out for a Pinot Noir? If you don't have a lot of red wine drinkers, what about a rose instead of two reds? We had a rose - we didn't think much of it would get used, but we actually ran out (we had 8 bottles of it, I think).
    I agree on the reds. I don't drink Cab unless I'm eating beef. I will sip Merlot but prefer pinot noir for sipping. I love a dry rose in the summer! Good idea for having that in addition to the white!

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