How to Plan a Bar Menu

When our daughter, Cassie, got married, I had no idea how to plan for the liquor.  I searched the web and found a lot of people wondering too.

The first thing I learned was that you need to plan on one drink per hour for each guest.  Cassie and Cory's reception was four hours long and we were expecting about 100 people, so we needed 400 drinks.

Next, I found that 1.75 liters is equal to 60 ounces. 

For the menu, we decided on:
Beer
Margaritas - Strawberry and Lime
Jack Daniels and Coke
Rum and Coke
Cherry Vodka Sours
Wine - Red and Moscato

Measurements:

Beer:  5) 12 ounce pack of 20.  This came up to 150 drinks.


Margaritas:  Two bottles of tequila.  I estimated 6 ounces of margarita mix, to 1.5 ounces of tequila.
Two bottles of tequila would make  80 margaritas. I had to buy 3 Lime mixes and 3 Strawberry.

Jack Daniels:  Two bottles of  Jack Daniels.  6 ounces of coke to 1.5 ounces of Jack Daniels.  480 ounces of coke.  This made 80 drinks. 

Cherry Vodka Sours - 2 Vodka, 120 ounces of sprite, Cherry Grenedene, 120 ounces of Sprite, and 90 ounces of Sweet and Sour Mix.  (Some people use the Sweet and Sour for Whiskey Sours too, so we could have used a little more).  This made 80 drinks.

18 Bottles of Wine - 80 Drinks

Lime Rum and Coke - 1 Bottle of Rum and 240 ounces of coke.  This made 40.

We had a total of  510 drinks and  had plenty left over.   We could have bought half as much wine and beer.  The Jack Daniels and Coke, Rum and Coke, and Cherry Vodka Sours were the most popular.  I would have not bought the strawberry mix for the margaritas and just bought one bottle of tequila for the lime margaritas.

Good thing about liquor is that it will last and I happen to like Strawberry Margaritas.  Maybe this will give us a good reason to have a party.