Big Red Liquors Party Planner & Drink Calculator
If you like to plan the party yourself, all the tools you need are included below. Just indicate how many people you are having, what you are serving, how long the party will last and what kind of drinkers your guests are and the calculations will be done for you! If you want us to do the work, we will be happy to; just visit one of our stores and talk with any of our managers or email us at BigRedBartenders@BigRedLiquors.com
When you do your planning, keep certain parameters in mind:
- Always have water and non-alcoholic drinks available. You can include this in the calculator below.
- Knowing whether your guests are light, moderate, or heavy drinkers will help you get the quantities correct
- The length of your event is important. Most of your guests will tend to taper off their consumption as the evening progresses, but not all.
- Consider what they will like. If you are serving beer, do you have a lot of beer aficionados in the group that will want unique micro brews? If you are having co-workers, does the boss like scotch?
- If you are serving liquor, consider having one or two signature drinks. Perhaps a martini bar, or margaritas combined with rum & coke, depending on your theme and the food you plan to serve. This will keep you from having to stock a “full bar.”
- Once you have determined the above responses you will need to determine the ratio of drinks. Generally those who drink beer will stick with beer throughout the party while wine and spirits drinkers tend to switch around a bit. As a rule of thumb, about 40% beer and 30% each to beer and liquor.
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When you are figuring your liquor needs, the preferences generally break down as follows:
- Vodka is first, normally accounting for 25% to 30% of consumption
- Whiskey (including Canadian, Tennessee, Bourbon, American, Irish, and Scotch) is second
- Rum and Tequila are next
- Gin is fifth
- After those, the preferences are very fragmented. If you want to offer cordials or after-dinner drinks, stick to one or two favorites such as Amaretto or a coffee base such as Baileys
Servings per container type:
- Wine 750 Bottle: 5 standard glasses (5 oz)
- Wine 1.5 Bottle: 10 standard glasses
- Sparkling for a toast: 8 toast portions (3 oz)
- Liquor 750 Bottle: 17 standard drinks or cocktails (1.5 oz liquor)
- Liquor 1.75 Bottle: 41 standard drinks or cocktails
- Beer: 1 Bottle or can is one serving
- Beer ½ keg: This is 7.5 gallons which is 80, 12 oz servings
- Beer keg: This is 15.5 gallons or 165, 12 oz servings
Save all the work and let Big Red do it for you – learn more about our bartending services.
Drinks calculator
| Servings | Bottles | Other | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beer | 12oz | kegs | |||
| Wine | 750ml | cases | |||
| Red Wine | 750ml | cases | |||
| White Wine | 750ml | cases | |||
| Liquor | 750ml | 1.75 liter | |||
| Water | 12oz | gal. | |||
| Soft Drinks | 1 liter | 2 liter | |||
