Frequently Asked Questions and Planning Tools
If you are skipping beer and wine entirely, you want your liquor selection to match what people actually love to drink. While trends change, Vodka and Bourbon remain the undisputed kings of the cocktail bar.
This guide is designed for a heavy-drinking crowd averaging 2 cocktails per guest, per hour, over a standard 4-hour event (8 drinks total per guest). To maximize your budget, all liquor is calculated using cost-saving half-gallons (1.75L handles), yielding roughly 60 drinks per handle.
4-Hour All-Cocktail Event Calculation Table:
25 Guests (200 Drinks total): Buy 3 Half-Gallons and 1 Liter bottle. (Recommended: 1.5 Vodka, 1.5 Bourbon, 1 Tequila/Gin mixed)
50 Guests (400 Drinks total): Buy 3 Vodka Handles, 2.5 Bourbon Handles, and 1 Tequila Handle.
75 Guests (600 Drinks total): Buy 4 Vodka Handles, 3.5 Bourbon Handles, 1.5 Tequila Handles, and 1 Gin Handle.
100 Guests (800 Drinks total): Buy 6 Vodka Handles, 5 Bourbon Handles, 2 Tequila Handles, and 1 Gin Handle.
150 Guests (1,200 Drinks total): Buy 8.5 Vodka Handles, 7.5 Bourbon Handles, 3 Tequila Handles, and 1.5 Gin Handles.
200 Guests (1,600 Drinks total): Buy 11.5 Vodka Handles, 10 Bourbon Handles, 4 Tequila Handles, and 1.5 Gin Handles.
(Note: For the fractional handles like 0.5 or 1.5, you can easily substitute a standard 750ml bottle for the half-portion to keep your shopping exact!)
When I build your custom liquor shopping list for an event, you might notice that I almost always tell you to buy one 1L bottle of your featured spirits alongside your larger half-gallons (1.75L handles).
There is a very deliberate, professional reason for this that saves your budget and keeps your party moving fast!
A full half-gallon bottle weighs around 7 pounds. It is heavy, bulky, and incredibly difficult for a bartender to pour from quickly and accurately during a fast-paced event. Trying to wrestle with a giant handle all night leads to slower service and accidental over-pouring.
To keep the drinks flying out efficiently, Cocktails Done Right uses the Speed Bottle Refill technique:
1. The Working Bottle: We start the night pouring directly from the lightweight, easy-to-grip 1L bottle. This gives your bartender total precision and speed.
2. The Budget Refill: As that bottle runs low, I use the heavy 1.75L half-gallons behind the scenes to safely refill the 1L bottle.
By shopping this way, you get the absolute best retail value for your alcohol, and Cocktails Done Right gets to deliver the fast, flawless, premium bar service your guests deserve.