Help me create a bar menu for my cocktail reception wedding?!
Help me create a bar menu for my cocktail reception wedding?
We are having a 4 hour open bar at our wedding along with heavy hors d'oeuvres and a pasta and salad station. Cake and coffee at the end. Anyhow, I want to have an actual bar menu with 2 martinis (one sweet one tart), 3 or 4 cocktails, 2 beers (reg and light) and 2 wines (chard and somethign else). It's a summer wedding so i want to keep within a tropical and/or garden theme and our colors are lilac and sage (purple and green). Thank you for any help!!!
Answers:
Traditional Martini
Cosmopolitans
Jack Daniels (can be mixed with coke, on the rocks or soda)
Vodka (can be mixed with anything)
Chardonnay
Merlot
Miller Light
Heineken
malibu seabreeze and midori sours are very tropical .desert martini 2 part vanilla vodka 2 part dark cr de cacoa,splash of heavy cream shake pour into martini glass and splash w/club soda(choc.egg cream martini)....2part raspberry vodka,2 part chambord splash pineapple juice and splash sour mx(flirtini)strain into martini glass cherry n lime and voila.i am a bartender extrodnaire.ps your othr wine should be a big dark red italian ,like amarone
tropical peach martini
mi tis
pina colada
hurricane
These are easy to prepare ahead.
Rum punch and margaritas, dirty martini & cosmo
One thing to keep in mind... the more elaborate you get with your bar menu, the more it's going to cost you for your reception. Are you doing the specialty drinks at the bar for you and your wife and a few friends, or will everyone appreciate the extra effort and money you are putting towards their entertainment. After all, the day is about you and your new bride, not appeasing 100 guests.
First of all, just remember that if you only have one or two bartenders for a large group of people, they will not be happy about making a lot of specialty drinks. Most people don't tip on an open bar. So, try to keep it simple.
For martinis, I would go with Mexican martinis for your sour and lemon drop martinis for your sweet.
Beer... go with one light such as bud lite or miller light. One import Amstel light or Heineken, and one regular beer such as Coors.
Wines, go with a chard and a cab or merlot. The people catering your reception should have a list of wines that they recommend from their vendors. I would go with one bottle of wine per every four people. You want to do that with the red and the white just to be sure you are covered. It's a Summer wedding, so go with more of the white. If it's going to be cold outside, I would go a little heavier on the red. You know your friends and guests, so choose accordingly and adjust your numbers on the types of wine.
If you want to go with a couple of specialty drinks, I would have them pre-made by whoever is hosting the reception. That way, the bartenders aren't wasting time making each individual drink with 4-5 different ingredients. They can always get the mixes set up, so the bartenders just have to add alcohol. I would recommend Mai-Tais, blue Hawaians, madori sours or Hurricanes. If it's a smaller reception (25-50 people), then making each drink shouldn't be a big deal unless everyone orders a martini.
You have to remember that a lot of people don't go for specialty drinks. Many like to stick with the standard crown and cokes, vodka/cranberry, etc...
You can keep everyone happy with a pretty simple bar. One decent scotch such as Dewars or J&B, jack daniels, crown royal, one light rum like Bacardi, one spiced rum or dark rum such as Captian Morgan or Myer's, one middle of the road vodka such as Stoli, one gin such as Tanqueray, and a good tequila.
COCKTAILS
-Apple Martini
-Straight Martini
-Sex on the beach (it is delicious peach liquour and stuff, ask your bartender)
-670 Cobbls (is green and super fresh)
BEERS
-Corona is a must, you pick the other one
WINES
Depending of where you live, the Chilean are great, ask for The Tarapaca ones, you will love them till the day you die. Remember that Italian ones are high with tanines and French always go. Just keep them as cold as possible.
Congrats on your wedding and your very original savvy reception!!!