Party drinks

Whispered

I have to serve approx 30 people at a party, I don't know the tastes of the majority so will need wines, spirits and some beer/cider. Very limited budget (which has not yet been agreed upon, just told that it's to be kept as tight as possible). Where do I start :eek:

Garden party if that makes a difference so might be an idea to serve a cocktail rather than spirit in a bottle?

vicwatson

ALDI LIDL Should be your first port of call. Great beers wines and spirits for great prices

Also, TESCO have 6 for €50 less 5% on certain wines at moment

Lyaiera

Empty half of a few cans of Tuborg and drop a half smoken' fag into it. The preferred party drink of many.

L1011

Get a 20 (or multiples therof) box of bottled 330ml lager - whatever is on offer unless its Budweiser/Bud Light and chill the hell out of it and most people will drink it. Few euros above cheapest possible bottles of white/red in Lidl or Aldi (and chill the hell out of the white) and the same applies. Cider wise, unfortunately, Bulmers is the lowest common denominator and people who prefer the better brands will likely drink something else so just get a slab of that if you see it cheap.

Cocktail wise there are very few you can make in bulk but those you can can work out cheap enough and are usually pretty popular.

Litre of Old Fashioned - full bottle of bourbon (€15 in Lidl or Aldi, perfectly fine), make some sugar syrup, few dashes of bitters (rather a lot less than you'd normally if you think how many cocktails are in it, oddly), fill up to a litre with filtered water, chill. Makes about 15 pub-scale measures. Litre of mojito - full bottle of rum (€12 in Aldi), muddle a lot of mint and some sugar, fill to a litre with filtered water.

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/12/cocktail-101-how-to-make-cocktails-for-a-crowd-big-batches-martinis-margaritas-manhattans.html / http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/entertaining-cocktail-party-how-many-drinks-calculator.html these articles and the others on drinks for a party by the same author are very useful. Actually one of the best drinks writers I've come across.

rubadub

L1011 wrote: »

Cocktail wise there are very few you can make in bulk but those you can can work out cheap enough and are usually pretty popular.

I would be careful making things in bulk, it often goes to waste. Once the ice is all melted and a single stray crisp makes it into the jug nobody will want to go near it.

I think part of the gimmick is making and shaking yoru own anyway. Always sickens me to see all the wasted booze when cocktails are about.

If people are drinking beer they may avoid spirits/cocktails completely.

As above I would avoid budweiser, you will have drinkers of mainstream beers like bud, heineken, carlsberg -many heineken/carlsberg drinkers will turn their nose up at bud, but I find most who would drink bud would not be as fussy. Heineken also has somewhat of a stigma so carlberg might be the safer bet. If none are on good offer I would just get bavaria, I reckon many will bring their own in case.

I would definitely expect the fussier drinkers of craft beers etc would simply bring their own

irish_goat

Sangria can make a nice garden party drink and you can get away with using cheaper red wine too.

L1011

rubadub wrote: »

I would be careful making things in bulk, it often goes to waste. Once the ice is all melted and a single stray crisp makes it into the jug nobody will want to go near it.

The recipes I gave don't use ice in the pre-making (they're only partially diluted, people can add ice to cool) and I'd recommend using something like the swing-top 1L bottles from IKEA for them.

Punch bowls are a total waste; but these aren't that. If they aren't drunk at the party they'll last a few days more for personal use after!