# beer and bar suggestions.



## BooBerrie (Jan 1, 2008)

I am going to have a limited bar at our saloon for this year's Tombstone themed party. I'm going to stock just the basics (whiskey, rum, vodka, schnapps, tequila, bourbon, etc., along with the mixers), but what do I do about beer? It seems the kegs (believe it or not) go to waste at a lot of events that my guests attend. Do I have a keg and go with the idea of "if you want something different, bring it yourself", or should I start buying different bottled and cans of beer now and just have a limited supply? I personally don't drink beer, and I want be to pretty vigilant about anyone drinking and driving, so it's not like I'm gonna have 100 cases of beer. Last year I put "Bring your own Booooooze" on the invite and only had jello shots (which only went over so/so). 

Any beer ideas and bar suggestions welcomed (my bar going days were in the last milennium, and then some.)


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## Tish (Aug 5, 2008)

Jello shots only went over so so?? I'm shocked! That's always the main hit of our party. I personally don't drink beer either, but we buy two cases at Costco, just to have it available. We do tend to have lots left over though. There are variety packs of Around the World brews, a few of those might be nice to have. Or, if you can find it, Pumpkin Beer would be appropriate. Just one case of that and mention on the invite beer supplies are limited or something to that effect. Also, how about a pony keg?


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## jkcoop (Oct 11, 2004)

Seems like every year - no matter how small the keg...we have left overs which is such a waste. This year we will probably get a variety of bottles of beer also get some wine, and hey - when it's gone, it's gone. You can always put on the invite that if they want something else, they can bring it.

Unless you want to bar tend and keep track of who is drinking what and how much, in my opinion, having too many choices is too much. But I'm all about keeping it simple. We wouldn't even bother with the party if it wasn't for everyone begging. I personally find it exhausting - the actual night of Halloween and interacting with the trick-or-treaters is what we look forward to.


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## Tish (Aug 5, 2008)

We have a lot of booze at our parties. Our first year we got the bigger sized bottles of basics, like vodka, rum, whiskey, tequila etc. at Costco. This will be our third party and we still have a good amount of those big bottles left. i hope not to buy anything but mixers and beer this year. We put out our whole liquor cabinet, though. I think it probably is too many choices, but I think people like seeing it out there. Even if they don't drink much, it sort of makes it feel like 'yahoo, this is a PARTY!" or something. I've noticed that one person will kind of take charge through the night and enjoys mixing people drinks. The beer we stick in a cooler along with some cans or bottles of soda.


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## BooBerrie (Jan 1, 2008)

Thanks for the ideas, I think I'll just get some random beer selections and have those, and when they're gone, they're gone.


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## guitarist155 (Sep 25, 2007)

in case anyone is looking for the pumpkin beer if you have a world market they have them at the ones near me and alot of other non mainstream beers


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## MHooch (Jun 15, 2007)

Last year we got glow in the dark shot glasses and they were a BIG hit. Here's a link:

GlowSource.com - Party Glow Sticks, LiteCubes, Lighted Ice Cubes


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## EvilMel (Dec 6, 2007)

Have you thought about getting Yeungling? It's pretty inexpensive and most people seem to like it.


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## jodi (Aug 24, 2006)

we always do a signature drink (usually bloody marys) and have beer available (we are beer drinkers). we're thinking of doing a keg this year instead of cans. I'm not a big fan of bottled beer when you get a bunch of drunks together. we also offer lots of non-alc drinks too. I usually pass around the trays of jello shot and they are a big hit. we did cherry bombs last year too...most of our frends have had them before and were a little leery of another hangover


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## cheyjilly (Aug 25, 2008)

We usually have an extensive bar list on hand and last year I put on the invites to bring a bottle of your favorite poison ...some did bring beer which i dont provide since the 1st year when i had tons left over....since people tend to be picky on beer (domestic or imported)? I even had people ask me if we had any local brewery samples on hand so maybe if i ever provide the beer again that would an idea (local beer).
People soon learned to bring beer if that was the choice of drink for the evening. 
Happy Hauntings to you.


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## Scaramanga (Aug 26, 2008)

guitarist155 said:


> in case anyone is looking for the pumpkin beer if you have a world market they have them at the ones near me and alot of other non mainstream beers


I have bought this in the past and I can say that at least two of the brands I've tried (one of which I saw at World Market/Cost Plus) were simply dreadful. If you must go with a seasonal beer, I recommend picking up some Sam Adams Octoberfest, which is pretty good, and generally can be found for fairly cheap.

Also, I'll second EvilMel's recommendation of Yeungling.


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## HallowSkeen (Jul 25, 2006)

Scaramanga said:


> I have bought this in the past and I can say that at least two of the brands I've tried (one of which I saw at World Market/Cost Plus) were simply dreadful.


I have to completely agree. We bought some pumpkin ale - not sure what brand - and it was awful. We opened one or two bottles for tasting and the rest of the case got thrown away. It was a big waste of money.


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## IshWitch (May 19, 2006)

Tish said:


> Jello shots only went over so so?? I'm shocked! That's always the main hit of our party. I personally don't drink beer either, but we buy two cases at Costco, just to have it available. We do tend to have lots left over though. There are variety packs of Around the World brews, a few of those might be nice to have. Or, if you can find it, Pumpkin Beer would be appropriate. Just one case of that and mention on the invite beer supplies are limited or something to that effect. Also, how about a pony keg?


Blue Moon has a good pumpkin beer and it is out now if you want to try it. 
I supply mixers and a select few things to make mixed drinks with and then put BYOB on the invites (the pirate themed party was byog for "bring your own grog, the rum keg be runnin' low!") but we are considering a keg for this year. Our problem is everyone drinks such a wide variety of things that it is near impossible to cover everyone's likes.


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## Haunted Dogs (Jun 15, 2007)

We have an outside barbecue bar, and empty out our liquor cabinet for the party. We have some rolling shelves that we haul out there for storing of excess alcohol. Fortunately some of the party goers are bar tenders so they make good use of the blenders, mixers and alcohol. We also have cans (never glass around our pool) of beer available and people bring some on their own. We've also had good luck with having a punch on hand, and we do have some non-alcoholic drinks available for the few that don't partake. 

We stick with the domestic brands of beer. The people that are fussy beer drinkers bring their own. It works for us!


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## skullboy (Sep 5, 2006)

We have a kegerator down stairs,always full.AND always have plenty of what ever on hand.THIS YEAR the liquor store owner is comin and bringin booze,LIFE IS GOOD.


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## BooBerrie (Jan 1, 2008)

okay, I guess I'll have to look it up on the web - what the heck is Yeungling? 

Skullboy - tell your liquor store owner he's invited to my party too! Road trip!!!


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## harrison36 (Sep 4, 2007)

yuengling is americas oldest brewery, not bad. dogfish head makes a good pumpkin beer. if you have a beer store that sells microbrews, they might have some "sinister" stuff like Satan's Gold, Arrogant Bastard(has a cool gargolye on bottle), couple others i cant remember. as far as keg's go, instead of a 1/2 (the normal big size) or 1/4 (the normal small size), some companys make 1/8 kegs which arent bad. i used to work at a beer distributor, so yes i do like beer. hope this helped


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## Skeletons in my closet (Mar 12, 2008)

A couple things we had last year at our Old West themed party that were hits:

Beer Boot - 2 Liter glass cowboy boot that was continuously filled and passed around all night. It helped drain the keg while people drank beer or whatever else they liked. Simple rules of when it's handed to you, you drink all you can in one drink. Then, pass it on. It should NEVER be put down unless it's empty.

Suck and Blow Shots - These things were a HUGE hit! Once everyone had started drinking a bit, we broke them out and explained them briefly. These things are like 2-3 normal jello shots each, and we drained 50 of them in about 15 minutes...  Check them out here: Site Title Here



Otherwise, we usually have beer left in the keg and set out all our liquor, but try and have a setup area with just a few liquors and mixers with a sign over it listing drinks that match the theme and how to make them. That's been fun and taken people out of their "comfort zone" to try some new things...


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## Johnny Thunder (Oct 7, 2004)

I would get a few 6 packs of varying types (ales, porters, lagers, etc) including as someone suggested a pumpkin ale, or an Oktoberfest, etc.


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## BooBerrie (Jan 1, 2008)

Thanks for the ideas everybody - I think I'll do the mixed selection of beers + some of the normal stuff that everybody around here drinks.

Skeletons - are the suck and blow tubes reusable? They look like fun and wouldn't take up too much valuable refridgerator room.


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## ldogg53 (May 23, 2008)

we always have the following:

1 case Bud Light
1 case Miller Lite
1 case Shiner Bock
2-3 bottles red wine (Vampire brand or other Halloweenie style)
2-3 bottles white wine (see above)
1 bottle Blavod (black vodka)
1 bottle Jack Daniels (for my neighbor who only drinks JD)

typically that has been enough for us... the different beers satisfy most who drink only macrobrews and the Shiner feeds those who want a heartier beer... I typically have a 6pack of Oktoberfest for myself and a couple friends who prefer top notch beer... 

the black vodka is pretty cool for making screwdrivers.... pour the drink in the glass carefully so the colors are seperate (black/orange) for effect and then stir up after they've seen your wonderful Halloween beverage...


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## HallowedEve (Aug 9, 2008)

All I can say is...you all are amazing hosts! Geez, forget my own; I want to be invited to YOUR parties! The only thing we supply here is a spiked punch and non-alcoholic bev's. We indicate on the invite that it's BYOB. No one seems to mind, though --- I think they just come for the karaoke anyway.


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## BooBerrie (Jan 1, 2008)

I checked out the beer selection while I was at Publix last night. I swear I saw some sort of beer that said something like "dead guy" ale - has anyone else seen this?

Also - if anyone knows if the "suck and blow" tubes are reusable? Thanks!


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## Skeletons in my closet (Mar 12, 2008)

You're not crazy...hahaha. Here's the brewer's website for it: Rogue Ales

Yes, the "suck and blow" tubes are re-usable. Just be sure to have a container for the guests to throw the tubes and caps into, as we had a few caps thrown away before they all got the idea the first time. We just throw all the caps together in a sink of dishwater to clean. The tubes go in the dishwasher standing each tube up on an individual spike on the shelves. It works really well.


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## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

We normally buy around 5-6 cases of beer.we get budlight,coors light,michalob light.But I think we are doing a keg around the same price wise with less storage space.I can get a keg for 75.00.
so we are doing a keg of bud light(the fav among most of the crowd)-smirnoff grape and apple-mt dew surprise-bahama mama(not halloweenie but my girlfriends love it)-marguritas-and dreamsiciles(both of the last two ready made in bottles just add ice.I keep lots of liquer on hand along with our personal stash of beer flavors which they can have.
We had a party in june and we threw away 6 pitchers of beer from the keg so a good bit was drank.I also served the above-but the halloween party is growing(word of mouth is getting around) so I hope to not have any left.Last year we had 40 people I expect around 60-70 this year.
I always like to have plenty drink and food.
Mhooch-the glow items are always a hit this year I am using the glowcups,glow straws,and glow cutlery along with the led ice cubes and ballons.


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## chaos_thorn (Aug 14, 2008)

Samuel Adams Octoberfest is just hitting the shelves. I just picked up a couple 6 packs the other day.


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## scarychery (Nov 22, 2006)

Not that it helps with your tombstone theme, but the following is beer related - Have you ever seen Hobgoblin beer? It is out of the UK, but is available here in BC. It is brewed by Wychwood brewery. The beer is kind of yech according to some, but the bottles are fantastic .(I'm not much of a drinker, so I wouldn't be able to tell you what the beer was like, but my English husband didn't think much of it.)(Mind you, we live in a fairly small town and maybe the beer had gone skunky.) Their website is definitely worth checking out as they have some really cool art work and screen savers. 
Wychwood Brewery


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