Best Drinks for Hosting: How to Build a Menu Your Guests Will Love

There’s a specific kind of pre-party anxiety that has nothing to do with the food or the guest list, and everything to do with standing in front of the drinks aisle wondering if six bottles of wine and a case of beer is somehow both too much and not enough.

Working out the best drinks for hosting doesn’t need to mean overthinking every detail. 

It comes down to three things: knowing roughly how much to buy, covering the right categories so nobody’s stuck with something they don’t like, and having one drink on the table that feels like a highlight rather than the usual prosecco-and-beer default.

How Much Should You Buy?

A rough rule of thumb that comes up again and again among people who cater parties for a living: plan for roughly one drink per guest, per hour, as a starting point — plus a bit extra to cover the first hour, when people tend to drink a little faster. 

It’ll flex depending on your crowd and the occasion, but it’s a solid baseline to shop against rather than guessing cold.

In practical terms, that breaks down like this:

• A standard 750ml bottle of spirits pours around 12 drinks at home.
• A 750ml bottle of wine pours about 5 glasses
• A bottle or can of beer is one drink, but people tend to go through them a little faster over a long, warm evening

So for a four-hour gathering of 10 people, you’re looking at roughly 40–50 drinks total across whatever mix you’re serving. Written down it sounds like a lot, but spread across wine, beer, a signature cocktail, and soft drinks, it adds up faster than expected — and it’s a much easier number to shop against than guessing.

TIP: Adjust the numbers for your specific event. The one-drink-per-hour baseline shifts depending on the occasion. 

• A seated dinner naturally slows drinking down, since food and conversation eat into the pace. Budget slightly under the baseline.
• A standing, mingling event or an outdoor summer gathering tends to run the other way, especially once the sun’s out and people are on their feet for hours. Budget slightly over. 

Knowing which direction to adjust matters more than the base number itself.

Putting it into a Shopping List

For that same four-hour, 10-person gathering: two bottles of wine (roughly 10 glasses), a case of 12–15 beers or ciders, one bottle of spirits or a few bottles of a signature cocktail, and a couple of large bottles of soft drinks or sparkling water for the non-drinkers. 

That’s not a rigid formula but it’s a useful starting shopping list rather than a number on its own.

TIP: Don’t forget the ice!

Ice is the most commonly underestimated item on a party shopping list. As a rough guide, budget around one kilo of ice per four to five guests for a few hours of drinking — more if it’s a warm day or the drinks are being served over ice. 

Running low on ice mid-party is a surprisingly common and easily avoided problem.

Building the Menu: The Categories Worth Covering

Most gatherings have a mix of people with different tastes, so it helps to think in categories rather than hunting for one drink everyone will love.

Wine is the safest all-rounder for most gatherings. A decent red and a crisp white cover a lot of ground and suit almost any occasion, from a relaxed dinner to a bigger celebration.

Beer and cider matter more than people sometimes plan for, especially for anything casual, outdoor, or running longer than a couple of hours. It’s also usually the cheapest category per drink, which helps keep the overall budget in check.

Non-alcoholic options deserve a proper spot on the menu, not a single lonely bottle of orange juice pushed to the back of the fridge. A decent selection of soft drinks — and ideally something that feels considered rather than like a backup plan — matters for drivers, non-drinkers, or anyone taking it easy that night.

A signature drink is where the night gets more interesting, and it’s the one category worth spending a bit more thought on.

The Hosting Trick Professional Caterers Swear By

One piece of advice you’ll hear from many professional caterers and event bartenders is to keep your cocktail menu focused.

Rather than stocking five spirits and a dozen mixers, pick one or two “headliner” drinks and build around those. It simplifies the shopping list, helps keep the budget under control, and makes serving guests much easier. 

This is exactly where a handcrafted bottled cocktail earns its place on the menu. The Remarkable Cocktail Company makes precisely this kind of headliner easy — a proper collection of handcrafted cocktails made by bartenders who know their stuff, so you can kick back and enjoy great drinks without leaving the house.

The range covers the classics people actually want:

• a sweet, tropical Porn Star Martini, 
• a smooth Espresso Martini with just the right hit of coffee, 
• a zesty Margarita, 
• the always-popular Whiskey Sour,
• and the forever-iconic Cosmopolitan. 

There’s also a fresh Mojito, a punchy Paloma, and the crowd-favourite Strawberry Daiquiri for anyone after something a little different.

Every bottle is handcrafted with genuinely good ingredients, so there’s no measuring, no sourcing spirits, and no risk of a home attempt tasting slightly off. You serve, and the drink itself does the impressing, no bartending skills required.

For a gathering with mixed tastes, the mini packs are a useful shortcut — instead of committing to one full bottle of one cocktail, you get a small selection covering a few different flavours, which suits a group where not everyone wants the same thing. 

And if the occasion is a birthday, anniversary, or anything worth marking properly, a personalised cocktail bottle with a custom message turns the drink itself into part of the celebration, not just something poured on the side.

Delivery is next-working-day across Ireland on orders placed before 12pm, which matters more than people expect when a gathering comes together on a tighter timeline than planned.

What Are the Best Drinks for Hosting Guests Who Don’t Drink?

It’s worth planning the non-alcoholic side of the menu with the same care as everything else. A good non-alcoholic option makes a real difference to how included non-drinking guests feel at their own friend’s party, and it doesn’t need to be complicated.

A decent selection of soft drinks, sparkling water with fresh fruit, or a simple mocktail using the same fresh ingredients as a cocktail (citrus, mint, soda water) covers this without much extra effort or cost. 

The goal isn’t a full alcohol-free menu to match everything else — just one or two options that feel like they were chosen on purpose.

A Few Other Things Worth Getting Right

Know your crowd before you buy. If most of your guests are beer drinkers, three types of wine “just in case” is money that could’ve gone toward a better signature drink instead.

Match the drinks to the time and formality of the event. A relaxed afternoon garden gathering calls for lighter, more casual options — beer, cider, a refreshing cocktail like a Mojito or Paloma. An evening celebration can lean into something richer, like an Espresso Martini later in the night.

Budget for the whole night, not just the first round. It’s easy to spend generously in the first hour and run low later on. Spreading the budget across the full length of the event avoids an awkward run to the shop halfway through.

Leave a bit of room for leftovers. Slightly over-buying on non-perishables like spirits, wine, and bottled cocktails is a much safer mistake than running out, since unopened bottles keep perfectly well for the next gathering.

Bringing the Menu Together

Working out the best drinks for hosting really comes down to covering the basics properly — wine, beer, a decent non-alcoholic option — and letting one really good signature drink do the rest of the work.

A handcrafted cocktail from The Remarkable Cocktail Company is built to be exactly that: something that arrives ready to serve, tastes properly made, and helps make the occasion feel special, without adding another job to your hosting checklist.