Estimate beer for a party.
Drink consumption is front-loaded, which is why a flat drinks-per-hour figure gets the total wrong. Guests typically have two in the first hour as they arrive and settle, then settle to about one an hour afterwards. Multiply the resulting per-guest figure by the number of beer drinkers, round up to whole bottles and then to whole cases. The keg equivalence is useful once you pass about six cases: a US half barrel holds 1,984 fluid ounces, or 165 twelve-ounce servings, and is usually cheaper per serving than bottles as well as producing no packaging to clear away.
Beer Per Guest
Drinks per guest = first hour + (hours - 1) x later hours; bottles = guests x drinks per guest, rounded up; kegs = total ounces / 1984
Quantity planning only. Serve responsibly, provide non-alcoholic options and food, never serve alcohol to anyone under the legal drinking age, and make sure guests have a safe way home.
About 100 servings, or five 24-packs. That assumes two drinks in the first hour and one an hour thereafter for everyone who drinks beer.
Usually by 20-40% per serving, and it removes the packaging. It only makes sense above roughly 100 servings, and you need a tapped, chilled setup for the whole event.