Drink calculator: how many drinks for a party
Tell us how many guests, how long, and what they like to drink. We'll turn it into bottles of wine, beer and spirits, mixers, zero-proof drinks, ice and glasses — so the bar doesn't run dry at nine.
The mix is what drinkers choose. Everyone else drinks zero-proof.
Drinks to plan for
0
5 drinks a guest across 4 hours
- Wine · 64
- Beer · 48
- Cocktails · 32
- Zero-proof · 56
Wine
Beer
Spirits
Zero-proof
Ice
Glasses
- · 5.0 drinks a guest across 4.0 hours. Food landing early and water on the table are what keep that comfortable.
Drink intelligence
Three structures, not three hundred recipes
Almost every cocktail is one of three structures. Learn the ratio and you can swap the spirit, the citrus or the mixer without a book. Drawn to proportion — the pale band in the old fashioned is dilution: roughly a quarter of what you hand somebody is water that used to be ice. Pick one to batch it for this party.
The sour, batched
for 32 cocktails
Shaken — it needs the aeration
| Ingredient | Per drink | Batch |
|---|---|---|
| Spirit | 2 oz | 64 oz |
| Citrus juice | 1 oz | 32 oz |
| Syrup or liqueur | 0.8 oz | 24 oz |
That is about 3 × 750 ml of spirit, and a batch of roughly 3.6 litres before ice.
The one to batch without the ice: mix spirit, juice and syrup ahead, keep it cold, then shake each order. Juice more citrus than you think — it dulls after about six hours.
Same family: Margarita · daiquiri · whiskey sour · gimlet
The working
How we calculate
Two in the first hour, one an hour after
Everybody drinks — not everybody drinks alcohol
Standard pours
Ice and glasses
Questions hosts ask
How many drinks per person at a party?
The catering rule of thumb is two drinks per guest in the first hour and one an hour after that. A three-hour party is about four drinks a guest. Standing parties run thirstier than seated dinners, and brunch runs lighter.
How many bottles of wine for a party of 50?
A 750 ml bottle pours five 5 oz glasses. If 50 guests drink wine for three hours at four drinks each, that is 200 glasses, or 40 bottles. Most parties split the pour between wine, beer and something alcohol-free, so move the sliders to match your crowd — a mixed bar for 50 over three hours, with most guests drinking, needs about 13–17 bottles depending on the kind of party.
How much alcohol for a cocktail party?
Each cocktail uses about 1.5 oz of spirit, so a 750 ml bottle makes about sixteen drinks. Plan about 4 oz of mixer per cocktail, a citrus fruit for every eight drinks, and ice for every glass.
How much should I plan for guests who don't drink?
Non-drinkers drink just as often as everybody else — they just drink something else. The calculator gives every non-drinker the same number of drinks as a drinker, as zero-proof, rather than one token bottle of soda.
How much beer for a party?
Count one bottle or can per beer serving and add about 5%, because beer is the drink people help themselves to. A 24-pack covers 24 servings.
How much ice do I need for drinks?
About 6 oz of ice goes into each iced drink, and bottles kept cold in a tub need roughly a pound of ice each on top of that. The ice calculator works it out in full, including hot weather.
Plan the whole party
Get the drinks, the food, the shopping list and a timeline for the whole night in one plan.
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