Beer Buying Guide For Medium And Heavy Drinkers

Planning an event and wondering how much beer to buy for your guests? It's important to consider the drinking preferences of your guests. Will they be heavy drinkers, medium drinkers, or non-drinkers? The general rule of thumb is to plan for one drink per guest for each hour of the event. This means that for a four-hour party with 100 guests, you would need 400 drinks. If you're serving other types of alcohol as well, then adjust your calculations accordingly. For heavy drinkers, you may want to increase the number of drinks per person to 1.5 or 2 drinks per hour. For medium drinkers, sticking to the general rule of one drink per hour should be sufficient. It's always better to overestimate than underestimate, and you can always return unopened boxes or bottles if you have leftovers.

Beer consumption: 1 beer per hour per person

When planning an event, it's important to ensure you have enough drinks for your guests. A good rule of thumb is to plan for one drink per guest per hour of the event. This means that for a four-hour party with 100 guests, you will need 400 drinks.

If you are serving beer, wine, and mixed drinks, typically, 40% of all party drinks are beer. So, for 400 drinks, you will need 160 beers. Beer typically comes in 12-ounce bottles, with 30 bottles per case, so you will need around 5-6 cases of beer for 160 drinks.

If you have a mix of heavy and medium drinkers, you may want to consider providing a range of beer options, such as a standard lager and a variety of craft and light beers. You could also offer a craft keg, which will serve about 165 12-ounce servings.

For a four-hour party, with a beer consumption rate of one per person per hour, you can expect each guest to drink around four beers. This assumes that some guests will be heavy drinkers, while others may only have one or two beers.

It is also important to consider the preferences of your guests when choosing the type and quantity of beer. If you are unsure, it is usually a safe bet to go with a standard lager and a variety of craft and light beers.

By following these estimates and tips, you can ensure that your guests have enough beer to enjoy throughout the event, with a good variety to suit different tastes.

Wine consumption: 1 bottle = 5-6 glasses

When planning a party, wine is likely to be a key part of your shopping list. Understanding how many glasses of wine are in a bottle—and then how many bottles you'll need—is key for hosts. A standard wine bottle typically holds 750 milliliters or roughly 25 ounces (24.5 ounces, to be precise). The recognised size for a standard pour of wine is around 5 ounces, so a bottle should yield about five 5-ounce glasses of wine. Of course, individual preferences might vary the pour, but as a general rule of thumb, expect five glasses from a 750-millilitre bottle.

If you're serving wine at a grand event like a wedding, most guests will consume two glasses of wine in the first hour of the event and one glass of wine per hour after that. For a four-hour event, that adds up to five glasses of wine per person, which is a straightforward calculation for wine shopping: one bottle per guest.

For more casual affairs such as dinner parties and weeknight wine nights, sommeliers recommend calculating two glasses per guest. Some people will have more, some less. In these scenarios, grabbing one bottle for every two guests is a safe bet.

If you know your guests are not big drinkers, or many of them won't be imbibing at all (baby showers or daytime events, for example), you can adjust your calculations accordingly. When purchasing wine, check with your retailer to see if they will accept returns of unopened bottles. Many will, or you can stash them to have a quick, easy host gift for the future.

It's also worth considering the other drinks options you'll be providing. According to Total Wine, it's safe to assume that 50% of guests will prefer wine as their drink of choice, with 25% each opting for beer and cocktails.

Liquor consumption: 0.5L per person

When planning a party, it's important to ensure you have enough drinks for your guests. A good rule of thumb is to plan for 2 drinks per person for each of the first 2 hours, and 1 drink per person for each hour after that.

If you're serving liquor, a good estimate is 0.5L per person. So, for a 4-hour party, a guest will consume 2L of liquor. For a 5-hour party, a guest will consume 2.5L of liquor.

• Consider the duration of your party and the number of guests attending.
• Assume that each guest will consume an average of 4 drinks during the party.
• Offer a variety of liquor options, such as vodka, whiskey, scotch, rum, and gin.
• Provide mixers such as Coke, Sprite, orange juice, pineapple juice, cranberry juice, ginger ale, tonic water, club soda, grenadine, Triple Sec, sweet and dry vermouth, bitters, lime juice, and simple syrup.
• Don't forget to have plenty of ice, garnishes, and non-alcoholic beverages available as well.
• Round up your estimates to ensure you have enough drinks, and consider returning any unopened surplus to the store afterward.
• If you're serving other types of alcohol in addition to liquor, adjust your quantities accordingly. For example, if you're also serving beer and wine, you may need less liquor.

Beer drinkers: 40% of guests

If you're planning a party, it's a good idea to work out how much alcohol you'll need to ensure your guests stay happy. Here's a guide to help you work out how much beer to buy for your beer-drinking guests, assuming 40% of your guests will be beer drinkers.

The general rule is that one person drinks one beer per hour of a party. So, if you're hosting a four-hour party with 100 guests, 40% of whom are beer drinkers, you'll need:

100 guests x 4 hours x 40% = 160 beers.

It's worth noting that this calculation assumes that your guests will drink beer consistently throughout the party. If you think your guests will drink more beer towards the beginning of the party, you may want to add a buffer to your calculation.

If you're buying bottled beer, it typically comes in 12 oz bottles with 30 bottles per case, though some come in 24 packs. If you're buying by the case, you'll need 5-6 cases for 160 beers.

If you have a real craft beer-loving crowd, you may want to provide a wider selection of beers, including a standard lager and a variety of craft and light beers. This will make the bar more complicated to manage, so ensure you have enough variety and quantity to keep your guests happy.

If you're planning to use kegs, a standard keg will serve about 165 12 oz servings, though smaller kegs are also available.

Remember, it's always better to have too much than too little, and you can always return unopened boxes, bottles, or kegs.

Wine drinkers: 40% of remaining guests

Assuming that the remaining guests are wine drinkers, you'll need to supply two drinks per person for the first hour and one drink per person for each subsequent hour. A standard bottle of wine contains around four to five glasses, depending on the pour.

If you're hosting a three-hour party with 40 wine-drinking guests, you'll need 120 glasses of wine, which equates to 24 to 30 bottles. If you're hosting a four-hour party, you'll need 160 glasses, or 32 to 40 bottles.

If you're also serving beer, you may need slightly less wine. It's a good idea to consider the setting and season when choosing your wine selections. For an outdoor event, lighter wines like pinot grigio or chilled reds are a good choice. For indoor events, particularly in the fall or winter, full-bodied reds and boldly flavoured wines are a better option.

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