It’s wedding season and our advice is to just add beer! The general rule for alcohol estimation at your wedding is to plan on two drinks per guest during the first hour of your reception, and one each hour after that. Of course, realistically a good alcohol ratio would be 1/3 beer, 1/3 wine and 1/3 liquor as well as champagne for toasts. But we are just here to talk about the beer!

• It might be best to limit your beer selection to just 2-3 options for simplicity and for your budget. This is especially a good idea if you will be serving the beer on tap, which of course we recommend!
• Choose 1 or 2 beers that will please the crowd, you know what your friends like! It is also fun to have an option or two that speaks to your personality, the season of your wedding, the region of your wedding location, or the region where you met as a couple or where you grew up.
• Choose the keg size that will best accommodate your guest count. Maybe choose a larger keg for those popular beers and smaller options for the specialties. A “mini” keg holds 5.16 gallons or approximately 55 servings of a 12-ounce bottle of beer. A quarter or “pony” keg holds 7.75 gallons or 82 12-ounce servings. A half barrel keg is 15.5 gallons of beer which is approximately equal to 165 12-ounce servings of beer.

There are also many fun ways to incorporate beer into your wedding in addition to just drinking it!

• Use hops in the bouquets or boutonnieres.
• Give away wedding favors such as beer koozies, personalized beer coasters, or bottles of your homebrew or favorite local beer.
• Offer a tasting station with growlers from your favorite locally made beers.
• Or just hold your entire reception at a brewery or beer garden!

Tell us the most creative ways you have seen beer served at a wedding. Ever been to an entirely beer themed wedding? We would like to see that!