open bar

A beautiful thing where there's this bar and you can order any drink you want, and you don't have to pay for it. And you can drink as much as you want.

Most often found at weddings, although I think there are some corporate parties where this happens too. Once in a while I've been invited to corporate parties where they have an open bar where they attempt to buy people who will either then buy their stuff or come work for them.

An open bar is one of the best ways to make a party about 10 times better.

It is also interesting because of the number of people that will get plastered. It's interesting to talk to family (in the case of a wedding) or your boss (in the case of a corporate get together) when either of the two of you are drunk. I think open bars are by far the best way to find out about the skeletons in family or co-workers closets.