Batching Cocktails Workshop

Batched cocktails means the ingredients have been combined before serving. The three main types of batched cocktails are

1. Elemental: combining similar ingredients like juices or spirits before an event
2. Pre-batching: combining all ingredients, including water, into one ready-to-serve cocktail
3. Punch bowl: building one large cocktail into the bowl and diluting with ice. 

This depends on the ingredients. A spirit-forward drink like the Negroni or Martini can last months. However, cocktails with juices or fresh-infused syrups last 24-48 hours at most. The longer the ingredients have a chance to infuse, especially with juice, the more bitter and dull the flavor will become.

For elemental batching, put your batches into bottles or jars. For the punch bowl method, keep your cocktail directly in the punch bowl. For a pre-batch cocktail, store in bottles or build straight into a drink dispenser. With more juice-heavy drinks or drinks with solid ingredients, use a punch bowl. Otherwise, use a drink dispenser.

Batching cocktails ahead of time can save you a lot of time and effort during service or a party. If you're a party host, do you really want to be making cocktails one-by-one all night while everyone else enjoys themselves? Probably not! If you're a professional, batched cocktails will allow for faster service and happier customers.

Almost any cocktail can be batched. It all depends on how you serve it and how you batch it, which we cover in more depth in this course.

Besides standard equipment like a bar spoon and cocktail jigger, you'll also need larger bottles for mixing or prepping ingredients and larger serving vessels like punch bowls or drink dispensers.

Use the ratios of the original recipe for a single cocktail and scale up. Looking at the Daiquiri, which follows a 2-1-1 ratio, you can scale it up by the bottle: 1 bottle to 1/2 bottle and 1/2 bottle. Just don't forget to dilute 20-15%!

With a batched cocktail, just follow the ratio of the base recipe because it is an already balanced cocktail; the only difference is that you have to dilute the batched cocktail with water-- that will always be your balancing factor when it comes to batching.

Absolutely! Add a small amount of the sweetener or acid already being used, give a stir into the cocktail, and taste. Repeat the process until satisfied with the result.

To keep garnishes looking and tasting fresh, we recommend saving the garnish for the last step, right before service.

Yes! Two things. Always look at the original cocktail recipe as a ratio-- We do this to build single serving cocktails, and you're just scaling up the ratio accordingly for batched cocktails. And always remember to dilute, whether it's with water or ice!

The standard dilution rate of any cocktail is about 15-25%, depending on the cocktail. However, for batched cocktails, you're going to want to dilute at least 20-25%, meaning for every 1 L of cocktail, you'll add about 200-250 mL.

Depending on your personal preference, a large punch bowl, drink dispenser, or several carafes are perfect for serving batched drinks at a party.

Of course! You can go the simple route and sub out the base spirit with a N/A spirit comparable in flavor or a low-ABV liqueur. The ratio would essentially stay the same; however, you'll need to taste it to be sure-- sometimes using zero proof spirits can bring extra sweetness that will then need to be tamped down.