How Much Alcohol Do I Need for 100 Guests?

How Much Alcohol Do I Need for 100 Guests?

Planning your next mobile bar event and wondering how much alcohol to buy?  You’re not alone.  This is one of the most stressful parts of event planning. Buy too little and you run out mid-event. Buy too much and you potentially waste hundreds of dollars.

Let’s break it down simply so you can get it right the first time!

The Simple Rule of Thumb:  The industry standard is: 1 drink per guest per hour.  This can sometimes be a little less (.5 drinks/hour for a light drinking crowd or 1.5-2 drinks/hour for a heavier drinking crowd)

So for a typical event:

100 guests - 4 hours - 1 drink per hour = 400 total estimated drinks

A balanced bar usually looks like this:

Cocktails 65–80% → ~210-260 cocktails

Beer 20–30% → ~65–100 servings of beer

Wine 10-20% →  ~30-65 servings of wine

Example Breakdown:

• 13-15 750ml bottles of liquor

• 3-5 (24 pks) of beer

• 8-16 bottles of wine

This varies depending on your crowd and what specifically is being served, but this is a strong baseline.

Make sure you also plan for:

• Ice (1.5lbs per person)

• Mixers (soda, juice, tonic)

• Garnishes (limes, lemons, etc.)

• Cups or glassware

• Napkins & straws

⚡ Skip the Math — Use our Free Calculator

Let’s be real—doing this manually every time gets old fast.

That’s exactly why we built a simple tool inside EventPro Bartender that:

• Calculates drinks based on guest count + hours

• Breaks everything down by category

• Generates a full shopping list instantly

No guessing. No overbuying.

Want to Make This Even Easier?

If you’re running a mobile bar business and are serious about that business, this is something you shouldn’t be doing by hand or relying on AI to get it right. 

EventPro Bartender helps you:

• Calculate alcohol in seconds

• Build full shopping lists automatically

• Stay organized across every event

This is more than just a calculator.  It is an entire system that will help automate how you plan events and give you more time to focus on what matters - whether it’s scaling your business and growing or just taking back more of your time.  This tool is it!

Join the Beta Group to try the app for free!