It’s inevitable. It’s going to happen. Once you start making cocktails at home for family and friends you’re going to get that phone call that goes like this: “Hey! We’re all getting together next Saturday night. You’re in charge of drinks!” And you’ll think to yourself “I’ve got this – no problem,” until you find out that 25 people are coming. Then you begin to panic. That’s a lot of measuring, mixing and pouring for just one person to do! You could opt for the easy way out and just stick with beer and wine, or go with a punch or a mix of some sort, but you really want to show off your new skills. So what’s the solution? I have just one word for you: BATCH! The only way to make cocktails for a crowd is to mix them up ahead of time and store them in a nice glass pitcher like the one you see above. You’ll still have to stir or shake your drinks, but it’ll save you from having to measure ingredients each and every time you pour.

Here’s how it works: we’re going to take the recipe for the Maiden’s Blush from the Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. and look at it a little differently:

The Maiden’s Blush (original recipe in ounces)

In a shaker tin with ice, combine:

2 oz Gin or Vodka
1/2  oz Cointreau
1/2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Jack Rudy Grenadine

Shake and then double strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

First of all let’s add up the total ounces in this drink so we know how much each portion is supposed to be: 3 1/4 or 3.25 ounces. We’ll need this information in a minute. Now lets swap out the word oz with the word part in the recipe:

The Maiden’s Blush (using parts)

In a shaker tin with ice, combine:

2 parts Gin or Vodka
1/2  part Cointreau
1/2 part Fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 part Jack Rudy Grenadine

Shake and then double strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

That part can now be any any kind of measuring vessel. For example, let’s consider using a 1-cup measuring cup and a 4-cup measuring cup (also a quart, right?)

The Maiden’s Blush (using cups)

In a pitcher, combine:

2 cups Gin or Vodka
1/2  cup Cointreau
1/2 cup Fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Jack Rudy Grenadine

Shake each drink, and then double strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

By doing a little math here, we come up with a total of 26 total ounces that this recipe will yield. The original was for a 3.25 ounce drink. 26 divided by 3.25 yields 8 drinks. Not enough for our party! We definitely need more.

The Maiden’s Blush (using quarts)

In a pitcher, combine:

2 quarts Gin or Vodka
1/2  quart Cointreau
1/2 quart Fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 quart Jack Rudy Grenadine

Shake each drink, and then double strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Keeping in mind that a quart is also a 4-cup measuring cup, we do the math again and come up with a total number of 104 ounces. 104 divided by 3.25 ounces yields 32 drinks. That’s more than enough for 25 guests! You can always adjust up or down by just keeping everything in proportion. If a recipe called for bitters, lets say 1 dash per drink, then you’d add them according to the number of drinks your recipe yielded. In the example above we’d need 32 dashes of bitters. It’s also helpful to know that most standard sized bottles of alcohol are 750 ml which converts to a tiny bit more that 3 cups. That’ll help you to figure out how much you’ll need to buy to make your batched drinks.

Once you’re at your party and ready to actually make your drinks, you’ll just follow the recipe instructions as far as whether your drink is to be stirred or shaken. This part is still necessary (to make a truly good drink) because as you know from earlier posts, you still need to incorporate the ingredients together with ice. And if there’s citrus involved, it’s so important for each cocktail to be shaken to get the texture right. Make sure that you give what’s in the pitcher a good stir with a wooden spoon before you pour into your mixing glass or shaker tin because your ingredients will have settled and separated (even if it doesn’t appear that way).

I hope I haven’t made your heads spin with all the math, especially for those of you who read my posts early in the morning! I have done this countless times for parties and I can’t even begin to tell you how well it works. You will thank me the next time you’re called upon to be the mixologist at the party. Everyone will love you and your cocktails!

Have a great weekend everyone! See you all on Monday when we’ll be taking about rum!