Alcohol Calculator

No -- Total Drinks Needed depends only on Number of Guests, Event Duration, and Guests Who Drink Alcohol (%); Beer Preference and Wine Preference only reallocate that same total across Cases of Beer, Bottles of Wine, and Bottles of Liquor. Shifting your crowd from mostly beer to mostly wine changes what you buy, not how many total drinks you need to buy for.

The calculator assumes 2 drinks for the first hour and 1 additional drink for every hour after that, so a 2-hour event calls for 3 drinks per drinker while a 5-hour event calls for 6 -- more than double the duration but only double the drinks per person, since that first hour's 2-drink allowance doesn't repeat. Total Drinks Needed still rises with Event Duration throughout, just not in a strict straight-line multiple.

Liquor's share is whatever's left over after Beer Preference and Wine Preference are subtracted from 100%, so you never set a liquor percentage directly. That remaining share of Total Drinks Needed is converted to Bottles of Liquor (750 ml) at roughly 17 drinks per bottle (1.5 oz pours), rounded up so you never come up short. If Beer Preference and Wine Preference already add up to 100% or more on their own, Liquor's share drops to zero and the calculator proportionally scales beer and wine back down so their combined share still lands at exactly 100% of Total Drinks Needed, rather than recommending more bottles and cases than the event actually needs.

Ice Needed is calculated straight from Number of Guests at a flat rate per guest, independent of Event Duration, drinker percentage, or the beer/wine/liquor split -- a simplification that assumes every guest, drinking or not, wants a cold drink in hand. Mixers Needed, by contrast, does depend on drink mix: it scales with Bottles of Liquor specifically, since beer and wine don't need mixers.