Alcohol Question

[honeybee]

Anyone ever buy a large amount of alcohol for a party?

We're able to bring in our own alcohol for our wedding in October. We're only doing beer & wine. Sam Adam's Octoberfest, Coors or Miller Light and then a red and white wine.

There are fun online calculators that "estimate" how much alcohol you'll need. For about 100 guests over 5 hours I'm being told 72 bottles of wine and 350 bottles of beer. This actually puts me on the high side of about 1.5 drinks per person per hour but I'd rather have more then not enough.

I'm not sure how to split it up though.
Would you go right down the middle?
175 bottles light beer, 175 octoberfest
36 bottles red, 36 white

Thoughts? Suggestions? Experience?

[mrshandy]

I would have more red than white for a Fall wedding and more Oktoberfest. But that's just me.

Maybe you could do 60/40.

What kind of people are coming? Do they like good beer?

[LoveTrains]

Well with my friends, if the choice was Sam Octoberfest or Coors/Miller Lite, I would need 350 Octoberfest and no miller/coors lite. Can you bring a less shitty lite beer, maybe something like amstel light?

Personally I would aim high b/c you don't want to run out. My friends are heavy drinkers.

[Mrs.Beagle]

I'm an equal opportunity boozer, but I know that most people would go for light beer vs. Oktoberfest.

Go with Miller Light. Get 9 cases (216 bottles) of Miller Light. Coors does nasty, nasty things to you the next day (not that I'm speaking from experience or anything).

Get 4-5 cases of Oktoberfest (96-120 bottles).

I'd probably get an even 10 of Miller Light and 5 of Oktoberfest, but my family and friends can put it back.

Can you take back unused bottles/cases? If so, just tell the bartenders to only open a case at a time, so you don't end up with 3 unused opened cases that cannot be returned. Same with wine.

[Awkward]

Have you considered kegs for the beer? I don't know if Octoberfest (yummyyyyyy) comes in a keg, but that might be cheaper.

I'd also get more white than red wine.

[vanillacourage]

I don't think that 1.5 drinks per person is enough.

You also need to consider your schedule. Long "cocktail hour" = more drinks, etc.

Do you have a Costco/Sam's membership? It might be worth it to buy one, you can returned unopened booze there.

[LoveTrains]

Aug 28, 2012 10:26:34 GMT -5 Awkward said:

Have you considered kegs for the beer? I don't know if Octoberfest (yummyyyyyy) comes in a keg, but that might be cheaper.

I'd also get more white than red wine.

yes, octoberfest comes in a keg. I had one at my 30th birthday party. I think it was $80ish.

[ECB]

I would find a liquor store that will buy back unopened alcohol. That's what we did and we WAY over bought! But I'd rather do that than not have enough.

[honeybee]

We we're going to do Keg's but per our caterer's suggestions you can return unopened beer cases, you can't return half a keg.

We found a wine/beer wholesaler who has pretty good prices and will buy back unopened cases of beer. Wine doesn't concern me, we'll drink that ourselves lol

As far as people coming its pretty varied... friends will be leaning towards Octoberfest, family will probably be more towards the light beer/wine side but I'm really unsure on if there will be more white or red drinkers.

I was leaning towards more white then red but was really torn on which way to go on the beer.

[Deleted]

Aug 28, 2012 10:28:53 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

I don't think that 1.5 drinks per person is enough.

.

She said per hour, so that sounds about right.

I agree on more red than white, and I also agree on a less shitty light beer. If I were doing it in my region, I'd get Lenie's Honeyweiss. If I were in PA, I'd do Yeungling. Is there anything localish to you that would work?

[dexteroni]

Aug 28, 2012 10:28:53 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

I don't think that 1.5 drinks per person is enough.

It's per hour. 1.5 drinks per person per hour.

And while many distributors will let you return unopened bottles, I definitely second the Costco suggestion. It's at least worth comparing prices.

[SJ]

I know that Binny's lets you return unopened alcohol.

I would find a store with a similar policy and go crazy buying lots and lots. It is a mortal fear of mine to run out of booze or food at a party, especially a wedding.

[honeybee]

Aug 28, 2012 10:35:46 GMT -5 SJ said:

I know that Binny's lets you return unopened alcohol.

I would find a store with a similar policy and go crazy buying lots and lots. It is a mortal fear of mine to run out of booze or food at a party, especially a wedding.

Yeah this is my fear as well. I'll check out Sam's club, we have a membership there already.

[minniebee]

Aug 28, 2012 10:28:53 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

I don't think that 1.5 drinks per person is enough.

People will seriously drink more than 1.5 drinks per hour? I think that's plenty!

For our wedding, we went through a lot more white wine than red, but we had a May wedding. For a fall wedding, I think an even 50/50 split on red & white wine would be fine. I have a lot of friends who prefer white wine regardless of the time of year ... but you know your crowd. If you think they'd lean toward red more heavily at a fall event, then maybe do 60% red & 40% white. It also depends a bit on what kind of food you're serving and what kind of wine might go better with your menu.

I'll admit I'm not a beer drinker. But, I think more people will choose a premium/seasonal beer over a mass-market light beer when they're not paying for it. My H loves Miller Lite, so we always serve that at parties along with some premium/seasonal choices. Often, my H and one other friend are the only people drinking Miller Lite and everyone else chooses the better beer. I'd order more of the better beer for a wedding.

[aliciar6]

we just had our wedding Saturday, the wine was included, we had 64 adults i believe, we did beer, wine and sangria.
we had 30 bottles of wine (we had 8 left over) she gave us 3 on the house for getting ready so in reality 33 bottles.
we bought about 9 cases (24 packs) of beer (granted a 6 pack of Vanilla porter was drank before the wedding)
we had soooo much beer left over. i think at least 4 cases that were unopened. we did killians, yuenling lager, bud light lime, breckenridge vanilla porter, and i think lager light....i'm not totally sure, he bought the beer.
granted some of DH's family (his parents and grandmother) don't drink but our friends drink a ton and the rest of his family does.

all of our white was gone...we had 2 bottles of Cabernet left and the rest the proprietor's red.

We started the ceremony at 5, and cocktail hour started at 530 and went til 11.

[honeybee]

Aug 28, 2012 11:13:27 GMT -5 aliciar6 said:

we just had our wedding Saturday, the wine was included, we had 64 adults i believe, we did beer, wine and sangria.
we had 30 bottles of wine (we had 8 left over) she gave us 3 on the house for getting ready so in reality 33 bottles.
we bought about 9 cases (24 packs) of beer (granted a 6 pack of Vanilla porter was drank before the wedding)
we had soooo much beer left over. i think at least 4 cases that were unopened. we did killians, yuenling lager, bud light lime, breckenridge vanilla porter, and i think lager light....i'm not totally sure, he bought the beer.
granted some of DH's family (his parents and grandmother) don't drink but our friends drink a ton and the rest of his family does.

all of our white was gone...we had 2 bottles of Cabernet left and the rest the proprietor's red.

We started the ceremony at 5, and cocktail hour started at 530 and went til 11.

Hmmm this was helpful. We'll have about 80 adult drinkers, 5 - 10 reception.

[Deleted]

I'd probably do 200 bottles light beer, 250 octoberfest, 40 bottles red, 40 white. The "extra" beer and wine I'd stash in the back so it wouldn't be opened unless the bartender runs out of something. Then I'd return or just keep for a future party at our house. But I'd rather know I'll have more than enough then run out.

Like you said, I know we'd drink the wine.

[80sjunkie]

Aug 28, 2012 10:39:30 GMT -5 minniebee said:

Aug 28, 2012 10:28:53 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

I don't think that 1.5 drinks per person is enough.

People will seriously drink more than 1.5 drinks per hour? I think that's plenty!

At a wedding people will often leave half of their drink to go dance, and then get a new one at the bar. Sometimes because they want a new, cold beer and other times a server will have cleared drinks from the tables.

[Deleted]

I think you have to judge for your particular group--at weddings I've helped with (family/close friends), white wine was more popular. Most of my friends drink Riesling.

Are Miller and Coors most popular with your crowd? I think Bud Light is probably the most popular of that type of beer from what I've seen.

I would also say usually light beer is more popular than Oktoberfest, but that depends on the crowd--my coworkers will always drink up the specialty beers and there's only ever bud light left. At some weddings, I've seen no one drink specialty beers

At my sister's wedding people drank white wine and barely touched beer at all.

[Deleted]

OOOh, I don't know but I'm interested in these responses since I'll be doing the same thing next fall.

Have you thought about doing kegs?