Open Bar Drink Order - CANS & WINE ONLY

Can't figure out how to make the picture bigger. Ugh.

Summary:

Wine

Barefoot Moscato, 12 bottles, 60 servings

Tassel Ridge Red, White, & Blue (sweet red wine), 12 bottles, 60 servings

Cans

Busch Light, 600 cans

PBR (hubby's favorite), 48 cans

Bud Light, 120 cans

Strawberry Bud-Rita, 120 cans

Twisted Tea, 120 cans

Redd's Apple Ale, 120 cans

Total

1248 cans/drinks

I am doing the same. Beer and wine only. The venue doesn't have alcohol and I work at a brewery so the beer is easy to come by. We are mixing it up with brands as well and figuring 6 beers a person since the reception is only 4 hrs long. I am using the entire guest count to figure out numbers so I will overshoot a bit since kiddos are invited. So with 150 people I am getting around 38 to 40 cases. The wine is harder. Im thinking I will order for about one third of the guest count to one half...so 50ish bottles assuming a bottle a person. I am also doing water and juice drinks for kids. Probably 150 waters and 50 juices.

Was 410 people a typo??? That's a ton of people and I don't think you have nearly enough.

Also, I would think of switching up the wine. Both of those are sweet, not everyone likes sweet wine.

How long will your reception be? Or the people invited, how many are adults?

It's hard to tell without that information but if you have 400 people and 1200 drinks, that's only about 3 per person, and since you said there are heavy drinkers you may want to think about adding more.

I'm not a beer drinker, so I can't comment on the types of beers, though I think they're all on the lighter side, so maybe think about adding another option to give more variety. Another consideration is that both of your wines are sweet. Obviously I don't know your crowd, but most of the people I know prefer drier wines, so you may want to think about adding a dry red and a dry white to give more options.

I would probably change the wine servings to 3/bottle just to be on the safe side. I would also consider adding a red and white that aren't sweet.

The beer selection also seems very dull, that's not really variety.

I agree with Melissa, I think your count is low. I know that there is an alcohol consumption out there, but I can't remember the name of it. Try goggling it and see What it tells you for amount. Sorry I'm not more help.

Of 410 invited (not a typo) there are only a handful that will actually drink a case of beer and I think there is about 80 kids/under 21 invited.

Any suggestions for other wines? I only like sweet wine so I am lost there...

Did you mean to type 140? If so, I think the quantity is fine. If you actually meant 410, you need to at least triple this.

moscato as the only white wine option is not good. I would switch to chardonnay, pinot grigio or a mix of both. I've never heard of tassel ridge, is it a red wine? I would also offer another option. Usually pinot noir and cabernet are good go-tos.

Not sure how long the reception is, but on 410 people, and I realize not everyone is an adult, that's about three drinks each for what you have. I know not everyone will have a drink and that'll help, but it seems like your list is light for heavy drinkers. Most people say, 2 drinks the first hour and then one drink per hour after that. I believe there are calculators for this if you google it, or maybe you can ask a bartender friend for some advice. You have to remember too, people will get a beer, hit the dance floor or restroom, and then get a new beer because they forgot about their other one sitting on a table. Good luck!

For whites, I would go with a pinot grigio or sauv blanc. You can keep the moscato if that's what you like, but I'm a huge wine drinker and I wouldn't drink either of your wines. For reds, I like super dry wines like Cab or Malbec, but I think more of a safe bet would be a pinot noir because it's a little lighter.

Our group are heavy drinkers too. I would at least double this amount of alcohol (especially the wine? But we like wine) if you're having a 4+ hour reception. Can you keep some cases unopened so you can return them later if unused?

I realize that we don't have a ton of variety in our drinks, but I don't want to end up with an order that is 2 cases each of 20 different drinks. Also, I know that most of out crowd will stick to Busch Light so am ok with limiting the beer options.

For a drier red, do something like a cab sav or pinot noir. I'm also a huge fan of red blends--Barefoot has a Rich Red Blend that's pretty good. Apothic is another good one. Add in a chardonnay or pinot grigio for a white option.

For the beer, I'd add something with a little more kick--a wheat beer or an IPA. Blue Moon, Lagunitas, Boulevard...just something a little less sweet.

TBH, I love both wine and beer, but I would be really disappointed as a guest to only have the sweet options that are here, as I love dark, drier flavors.

@Lauren we cannot return anything so that's another reason we want to limit our options (to an extent). We have to pay for it all ahead of time and are stuck with all leftovers at the end. So we would obviously rather not order a bunch of IPAs and dry wines and end up with a ton of leftovers. I definitely want to have enough variety to give everyone an option though, so that's why I'm asking for suggestions I need to find a happy mdidle between have enough variety and too much

The standard is 2 drinks during cocktail hour, two during the first hour, and 1 per hour after, per person. If you have heavy drinkers, you might up those numbers to 3,3, and 2.

Right now, with 410 people (including kids) you have only 3 drinks per person. If you have as heavy of drinkers as you say, shoot for more like 6-7 per person. I really think if this is the case for you, you need to double everything you're buying.

I can only speculate, as we are still receiving RSVPs..but I would guess that we will have under 300 people, and at least 50 of them will be underage.

Honestly you can't speculate anything. You invited 410 people so expect to host 410 people.

I can speculate whatever I would like, honestly. I am not placing my drink order right now and will adjust to be able to host all 410 if they all show up. I am simply asking for advice for what I "think" is the most likely scenario.

Maybe talk to a beverage distributor about what to order. Could you potentially rent a couple of kegs and a kegorator to keep the beer cold? Price wise I think it would be cheaper to have a keg of regular beer and keg of light beer, I personally like barefoot for wine and it isn't expensive.

You asked for advice and that was my advice. My advice is then that this order you have is not going to keep your 410 invited guests at your reception as long as you'd like, or very long at all if they are as heavy drinkers as you say.