Hi, Friends of Cocktails! Today we’ll talk about all the great benefits of batching cocktails, including how they can save you time and money. I’ll show you how to make them 3 different ways: shaken, stirred and carbonated, plus, we’ll use up the leftovers from the time we fermented our own ingredients. So go check that out if you haven’t yet.
We’ve again partnered with Mijenta Tequila, which has sustainability in their DNA and is working towards creating a positive change in the cocktail world as part of their Echo Verde program. They have the goal of inspiring a more sustainable cocktail making mindset in bars around the World, and I’m happy they see Cocktail Time as a tool that can help with that. Their tequila is of course amazing, so it will be the base for our 3 cocktails!
So, first thing’s first, what is batching and why is it so smart to use it when you’re making a large amount of cocktails? Batching is the practice of mixing larger quantities of cocktail ingredients together in advance, rather than preparing each cocktail individually as orders come in. This can be done hours, or with ingredients like Super Juice, even days ahead.
I use batched cocktails when hosting parties or when working on guest shifts because it’s fast, consistent, and efficient - and don’t worry if somebody says that making batched cocktails is killing the charm of bartending or mixology. If it’s a super busy night, or even if you’re hosting some friends, you just want to pump out the cocktails as fast as possible, right?
Batching cocktails beforehand means the measurements are always consistent, and you’re not messing with multiple bottles, squeezing citrus or cracking eggs for egg whites. Another plus is that by making a drink that’s always consistent, but made and served faster on the spot, you have more time to dedicate to the guest to explain what’s in the drink and give them the best cocktail experience.
So do the work beforehand, be precise about it, and scale it for however much you need. But even if you’re off by a little bit with an ingredient, that will distribute across multiple cocktails, so it’s even harder to mess up. If you need help with this for any of today’s cocktails, we’ve made special Mijenta calculators here to help you out with that. Enough talk, let’s get to making some cocktails!
I’ll prep each ingredient and make a batched cocktail with it, starting with the leftovers from Lactofermented Grapefruit which we dehydrated. This will be used to make our flavored Super Foam, but we’re already thinking ahead to the next post, where we’ll use it for a topic we haven’t covered yet. It’s Cocktail Time!
Grapefruit Super Foam
● 350g Water
● 8g Fermented Grapefruit Powder
● 10g Gum Arabic
● 1.5g Methylcellulose
● 0.15g Xanthan Gum
Begin by blending the water together with our Fermented Grapefruit Powder for about 30 seconds. Then we’ll place this in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil for about a minute to make sure we kill the yeast - we don’t want the superfoam to ferment. Now strain it through a cloth filter to strain out the solids, and let’s split this infusion into two. 150g of it are going in an ice bath to cool down completely, and we’ll place the other 100g of it back in the saucepan and bring to a boil once again.
Our hot liquid will be used to mix in and hydrate all of the powders we’re using, so after combining them and whisking for about 5 minutes add the cold grapefruit water to chill down our mixture and fully hydrate everything. All that’s left is to leave our infusion to rest for another 5 minutes, then bottle and label your LFG or Lacto-Fermented Grapefruit Super Foam, and you’re ready to batch the first cocktail!
Mijenta Sour
● 310g Mijenta Reposado
● 123g Lemon Super Juice
● 150g Agave Syrup
● 123g Grapefruit Super Foam
● 11 drops 20% Saline Solution
As mentioned, we’ll be measuring the ingredients with a scale, and we’re making enough for a 700mL bottle or around 23.33oz. The base of course will be Mijenta Reposado, a tequila aged up to 6 months in a blend of American white oak, French oak and acacia casks, presenting a more mature and fuller expression with a long finish on the palate. So pour everything into a bottle, add a label, place in the fridge and use when needed.
To pour it you could make this with a Nitro siphon, like we did with our cocktails on tap setup, but a shaker will work fine as well. So into your chilled shaker add 3.5oz or 105ml of our batched Mijenta Sour cocktail, and while we’d usually need to do a reverse dry shake, we can actually froth this up with a milk frother before we add the ice. Then all you need is to shake hard to chill and dilute, strain into a copper mug or lowball glass with ice and have it garnished with a rim of salt. Cheers!
We made a Tequila Sour that has a subtle bitter taste of grapefruit, with a gentle fermented note. The nice foam provides silkiness, while Mijenta Reposado adds beautiful caramel notes with full agave flavor. Let’s now see if the Piña and Piña can match it, and for that we’ll need some Pineapple Liqueur using the tepache leftovers.
Pineapple Tepache Liqueur
● 100g Tepache
● 150g Fermented Pineapple Rinds and Flesh
● 376g Mijenta Blanco
● 120g Agave Nectar
To make this blend the ingredients on high speed for at least 30 seconds then leave this to sit for about 30 minutes. You’ll see separation starting to happen, and that’s the sign to filter it through a cloth filter. This won’t end up perfectly clear, but you can still refilter that first part for better results. Finally, to get out all the liqueur I’m placing everything into a potato ricer and giving it a good squeeze. Don’t forget to add a label and we’re ready to batch the Piña and Piña, our pineapple and tequila cocktail.
Piña and Piña
● 420g Pineapple Tepache Liqueur
● 110g Mijenta Reposado
● 117g Clarified Lime Super Juice
● 61g Yellow Chartreuse
● 16 drops 20% Saline Solution
● Chilled Water or Soda
Just as with the last drink, combine everything but the chilled water or soda, add a label, and place the cocktail in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. You could of course pour this cocktail in a glass and top it up with soda water, but we’ll carbonate the whole cocktail with an iSi Twist & Sparkle. So pour in 12oz or 360mL of our batched Piña and Piña cocktail and add 16oz or 480mL of water. Make sure both are as cold as possible, add a first CO2 cartridge, wait until the bubbles settle then add a second CO2 cartridge.
Once the bubbling dies down a little bit once again we can open the bottle and pour our cocktail into a highball glass filled with ice. Now garnish with a simple pineapple leaf, which you can keep in the freezer and that’s it. Beautiful! The fermented pineapple and herbal notes add complexity to this cocktail, with tequila still shining as the star. Reposado tequila provides a beautiful backbone and a little extra complexity to this wonderful highball. It’s an excellent summer sipper.
Two down, one more to go. Let’s serve and taste the Mexican Medicine, but first we need some Honey & Ginger syrup made with the leftovers from our ginger bug.
Fermented Honey & Ginger Syrup
● 40g Fermented Ginger
● 130g Water
● 100g Honey
Begin by blending the ginger and water on high speed, then strain through a cloth filter. We’ll then mix 64g of our ginger water with the honey, and do this at room temperature to keep the nutritional value of honey. As a side note, since honey has quite a lot of yeast this could kick start fermentation again, but since we are using it in a high-proof cocktail we should be good. If you’d like the syrup for something like a classic Penicillin you should still cook the ginger first to kill off any yeast.
With that we’re ready to batch the Mexican Medicine, but before that you have a decision to make. You can batch only the ingredients, or you can pre-dilute it and place it in the freezer with water added, so once you pour it over the ice in the glass it’s ready to drink. That way you can save on the amount of ice you need for stirring and diluting the cocktail, and if you’re serving hundreds of spirit-forward cocktails per day this is a great hack.
I’ve got a few nice homemade blocks of ice ready, so I’ll dilute the cocktail with that, meaning we’re not adding water now.
Mexican Medicine
● 585g Mijenta Reposado
● 95g Fermented Honey & Ginger Syrup
● 21g Lemon Bitters
● 21 drops 20% Saline Solution
● Mezcal Spray
You know the drill by now. Mix the ingredients, add into a bottle, label, and place in the fridge until ready to serve. As mentioned this could be just poured, garnished and enjoyed, but we didn’t pre-dilute it, so we’ll do that now. Pour 2oz or 60mL of our cocktail over a clear ice block in a low tumbler glass, give it a good stir to properly dilute the cocktail before we add the final ingredients: a spray of mezcal and a piece of candied ginger.
This tequila fusion of a Penicillin and an Old Fashioned really showcases the Mijenta Reposado's smooth richness. It’s complex, boozy, subtly sweet and fresh at the same time, like medicine for my people. With that you’ve reached the Bottom of the Glass, and today I have as fun fact about batched cocktails. Did you know that these are actually some of the first cocktails ever recorded?
That’s right, the Punch Bowl was mixed and placed on the tables from the East Indies to the coffee houses in London as far back as the 17th century. David Wondwrich wrote a whole book on what he called the Original Monarch of the Mixed Drinks, and I couldn’t be happier with them. I’ll leave you with these parting words: With everything we covered about batching cocktails, don’t let anyone tell you this is cheating. Show them a great time, serve them a wonderful cocktail, and watch them change their mind. Cheers, Friends of Cocktails!