Best deals for beer and spirits - House Party

Forever And Ever

Myself and my girlfriend are having our first 'gathering' since we moved into our new apartment - here a year and only getting around to it now!

Anyways, expecting about 20 or so people, and told them not to bring booze as we'd supply it.

I was thinking maybe 3 trays or so (Beer/Guinness/Cider), a couple of bottles of red and white, and some vodka and peach schnapps to make a punch bowl of Sex on the Beach.

Just looking for any input in regards drinks ideas and where to find the best deals?

Thanks

irish_goat

Aldi is a good shout, you can get decent wine pretty cheap, get their own brand vodka and peach schnapps plus orange and cranberry juice and they do nice beers and ciders.

Forever And Ever

irish_goat wrote: »

Aldi is a good shout, you can get decent wine pretty cheap, get their own brand vodka and peach schnapps plus orange and cranberry juice and they do nice beers and ciders.

That's great :-) I'll pop in after work and have a browse!

irish_goat

Pretty sure their cider is made by Bulmers in Clonmel and they've got a Czech lager which should keep any lager drinker happy. And you'll find the Traditional Stout is probably cheaper(and definitely nicer) than Guinness.

G rock

And they have bottles of spaten for 1.79. It's lovely

minidazzler

Never tell people "not" to bring drink, 3 trays is a very small amount for 20 people who will all be drinking. Especially in bottles. I'd see it as something to get a minimum of 10 drinks per person (depending on the type of drinkers) because a house party is likely to go all night for 3-4 of the people there and nothing is worse than running out.

I find SuperValu usually have the best deals on beer around where I live in Cork. But Tesco usually have a better deal on some Spirits.

Remember if it's a punch bowl it doesn't need to be branded vodka, no one will know the difference.

Forever And Ever

minidazzler wrote: »

Never tell people "not" to bring drink, 3 trays is a very small amount for 20 people who will all be drinking. Especially in bottles. I'd see it as something to get a minimum of 10 drinks per person (depending on the type of drinkers) because a house party is likely to go all night for 3-4 of the people there and nothing is worse than running out.

I find SuperValu usually have the best deals on beer around where I live in Cork. But Tesco usually have a better deal on some Spirits.

Remember if it's a punch bowl it doesn't need to be branded vodka, no one will know the difference.

Well they're not really drinkers, we'll probably head into town around 1ish after the sesh - But I agree with you completely!

Live beside a Supervalu so will check later!

rubadub

I would not make a punch bowl of cocktails. Many people do not like mixing drinks, so may not touch it. I have been to a few "cocktail parties" where very few drank the cocktails. If the punch bowl is there longer than 30mins it just becomes unappetizing, all it takes is a stray crisp to fall in and its considered ruined. People may not like the proportions its mixed to either, the ice will melt etc.

I would just have a shaker and let people make their own, people like the gimmick. Another time the host was making up loads and pouring them out, all going to waste, the ice melting in the glasses and going luke warm.

The cider/lager/guinness trays are disproportionate, most guinness drinkers I know do not drink it at home and would take a lager over it. Cider drinkers would be a minority. It should be more like 2 trays of lager and half a cider and half Guinness, if even. Heineken seems the most universally accepted mainstream lager, many people are totally against bud, while most bud drinkers would have a heineken no bother. Most would have a carlsberg too, bud is really the odd one out that many think is most acceptable. 20 longnecks of heineken is €18

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=262159388

Forever And Ever

G rock wrote: »

And they have bottles of spaten for 1.79. It's lovely

What's Spaten?

Forever And Ever

rubadub wrote: »

I would not make a punch bowl of cocktails. Many people do not like mixing drinks, so may not touch it. I have been to a few "cocktail parties" where very few drank the cocktails. If the punch bowl is there longer than 30mins it just becomes unappetizing, all it takes is a stray crisp to fall in and its considered ruined. People may not like the proportions its mixed to either, the ice will melt etc.

I would just have a shaker and let people make their own, people like the gimmick. Another time the host was making up loads and pouring them out, all going to waste, the ice melting in the glasses and going luke warm.

The cider/lager/guinness trays are disproportionate, most guinness drinkers I know do not drink it at home and would take a lager over it. Cider drinkers would be a minority. It should be more like 2 trays of lager and half a cider and half Guinness, if even. Heineken seems the most universally accepted mainstream lager, many people are totally against bud, while most bud drinkers would have a heineken no bother. Most would have a carlsberg too, bud is really the odd one out that many think is most acceptable. 20 longnecks of heineken is €18

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=262159388

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply

You're right, and I've decided to forget the punch idea.

Do you think bottles of beer would be better than cans?

MonstaMash

Forever And Ever wrote: »

What's Spaten?

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/142/1944

Forever And Ever

MonstaMash wrote: »

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/142/1944

Looks nice! I'll grab some!

coylemj

rubadub wrote: »

The cider/lager/guinness trays are disproportionate, most guinness drinkers I know do not drink it at home and would take a lager over it. Cider drinkers would be a minority. It should be more like 2 trays of lager and half a cider and half Guinness, if even. Heineken seems the most universally accepted mainstream lager, many people are totally against bud, while most bud drinkers would have a heineken no bother. Most would have a carlsberg too, bud is really the odd one out that many think is most acceptable. 20 longnecks of heineken is €18

You've nailed it there in terms of what to buy for a house party, couldn't agree more. Today you'd be as welcome arriving at a party with a slab of Bud as you would have been with cans of NI Harp a few years ago!

And on Spaten, it's definitely the best value good German beer, currently available at 1.79 (50cl bottles) in Aldi and that's not a special offer. I'd always have a few bottles of Pilsner Urquell and Budvar (any 5x for €10 currently in O'Briens) in the fridge but Spaten is the best value of the quality German beers at 1.79 in Aldi.

There's also a Spaten Ocktoberfest bottle, it has a blue label and is 5.9% vs. normal Spaten at 5.2% but I've only seen it in O'Briens so it will cost you €2 per bottle based on the 5x for €10 offer, haven't done a taste test yet.

Forever And Ever

coylemj wrote: »

You've nailed it there in terms of what to buy for a house party, couldn't agree more. Today you'd be as welcome arriving at a party with a slab of Bud as you would have been with cans of NI Harp a few years ago!

And on Spaten, it's definitely the best value good German beer, currently available at 1.79 (50cl bottles) in Aldi and that's not a special offer. I'd always have a few bottles of Pilsner Urquell and Budvar (any 5x for €10 currently in O'Briens) in the fridge but Spaten is the best value of the quality German beers at 1.79 in Aldi.

There's also a Spaten Ocktoberfest bottle, it has a blue label and is 5.9% vs. normal Spaten at 5.2% but I've only seen it in O'Briens so it will cost you €2 per bottle based on the 5x for €10 offer, haven't done a taste test yet.

Cheers for that

That 5.9% stuff sounds the bees knees, will definitely grab me some of those!

In terms of cider, should I grab some of that Kopperberg crap for the girls?

coylemj

Forever And Ever wrote: »

Cheers for that
That 5.9% stuff sounds the bees knees, will definitely grab me some of those!

I wouldn't give guests beer that's 5.9%, they might get sloshed in double-quick time. Stick to stuff that's the strength they're used to, Henieken is a good party beer as advised above.

Forever And Ever wrote: »

In terms of cider, should I grab some of that Kopperberg crap for the girls?

The red berry (cranberry etc.) variations might have limited appeal but a few bottles of pear cider would probably go down well.

Pear cider was originally called 'perry', it used to come in small bottles and was called Babycham but you can keep that to yourself!

Forever And Ever

coylemj wrote: »

I wouldn't give guests beer that's 5.9%, they might get sloshed in double-quick time. Stick to stuff that's the strength they're used to, Henieken is a good party beer as advised above.



The red berry (cranberry etc.) variations might have limited appeal but a few bottles of pear cider would probably go down well.

Pear cider was originally called 'perry', it used to come in small bottles and was called Babycham but you can keep that to yourself!

One of my musical heroes Nicky Wire swears by Babycham

rubadub

Forever And Ever wrote: »

Do you think bottles of beer would be better than cans?

Bottles are typically seen as more "classy", this is one reason I was given as to why its rare to see people drinking cans in pubs, yet very common to see people drink direct from a bottle. But bottles can take up more room in a green bin, or hassle to go to a bottle bank.

At house parties, at the end cans also seem to be the ones left half full all around the place, I hate seeing that waste. I think because people can see inside a bottle easily they know which is theirs, or do not mistakenly think they finished it.

I would get more drink than you had mentioned in case you run out, but there is no need to put it all on display at the start, otherwise some gannets will be glugging it down and it can get messy, some people see "free" drink and go mental on it. The drink will not go to waste with christmas coming, you could have trays of cheap stuff to drag out later one if it runs out. Or have backup bottles of spirits, they do not go out of date and could be given as gifts. Instead of the punch I would recommend getting some decent mixers, like pressed pineapple juice and proper pressed apple juice along with the usual coke etc. Though people can also go mad on "free" spirits.

If anybody is very particular about what they drink they will probably bring their own, so I wouldn't go spending over the odds on stuff like Spaten etc. Some might have it just to try and not finish it, again "free beer" syndrome.

Forever And Ever

rubadub wrote: »

Bottles are typically seen as more "classy", this is one reason I was given as to why its rare to see people drinking cans in pubs, yet very common to see people drink direct from a bottle. But bottles can take up more room in a green bin, or hassle to go to a bottle bank.

At house parties, at the end cans also seem to be the ones left half full all around the place, I hate seeing that waste. I think because people can see inside a bottle easily they know which is theirs, or do not mistakenly think they finished it.

I would get more drink than you had mentioned in case you run out, but there is no need to put it all on display at the start, otherwise some gannets will be glugging it down and it can get messy, some people see "free" drink and go mental on it. The drink will not go to waste with christmas coming, you could have trays of cheap stuff to drag out later one if it runs out. Or have backup bottles of spirits, they do not go out of date and could be given as gifts. Instead of the punch I would recommend getting some decent mixers, like pressed pineapple juice and proper pressed apple juice along with the usual coke etc. Though people can also go mad on "free" spirits.

If anybody is very particular about what they drink they will probably bring their own, so I wouldn't go spending over the odds on stuff like Spaten etc. Some might have it just to try and not finish it, again "free beer" syndrome.

The cheap back up beer is a terrific idea, ill pick that up in the morning.

Loaded up on spirits (vodka, peach schnapps, baileys, captain morgans, jager)

At the moment ive got orange and cranberry juice but will grab some others!