Yukon Liquor Corporation

How much do you need?

This question is asked of Yukon Liquor Corporation staff all the time. While there are no absolute rules, here are some buying guidelines you may find useful. These are purchasing guidelines only that you can adapt to suit your guests’ and your product preferences. If you are hosting a larger social function ( 1.8MB) and want a quick idea of the amount of beverage alcohol you may need, you may find the Handy Party Calculator useful.    

Wine
A standard serving of wine is five ounces at 12% alcohol by volume. This means that you get:

  • Five glasses per 750-ml bottle
  • Seven glasses per litre
  • 10 ½ glasses per 1.5-litre magnum

Beer
Generally one 341-ml (12-oz.) bottle of beer is one serving. So a case of 24 beers provides 24 standard beer servings.

Spirits
A 750-ml bottle gives approximately 17 standard drinks. You will need three similarly sized bottles of mix. Guest preferences or a party theme may affect the types of spirits you purchase, so the following is only a basic guide for making spirit purchases:

  • 30% Canadian Whisky
  • 20% Vodka
  • 20% Rum
  • 10% Scotch
  • 10% Gin (more popular in summer)
  • 10% Liqueurs

Estimating your buying needs for social functions
Follow these guidelines when calculating your buying requirements:

  • Generally, plan on four "standard drinks" per person for a three-hour event.
  • Multiply that by the number of guests you expect to estimate the total "standard drinks" you may need for the event.
  • Translate this number into the approximate servings of wine, beer and spirits.