Hi, Friends of Cocktails. A while back I taught you how to prebatch Mojitos, Margaritas and Whiskey Sours - yes, even with the foam and silky texture! The first edition of these prebatched sours was a success, and there were requests for more fast and easy cocktail ideas that can be made without compromising on the quality. So I figured I’d show you 3 more delicious classics: the Basil Smash, Paloma and Pisco Sour, without muddling, juicing, or dealing with egg whites when it’s time to make and serve the drinks.
As for the pre-batched cocktails, these will be made without any dilution added - unlike when we prebatched a stirred cocktail, the Old Fashioned, which you could pour straight from the bottle and enjoy. Here we want to shake the cocktail to give it an aerated or fluffy texture, or to give it some effervescence as we serve it, like in the case of the Paloma. Let’s start with the Gin Basil Smash, for which we’ll first make a Clarified Basil Cordial, a basic version of the Cucumber Basil Cordial I made for the Elevated Basil Smash.
Clarified Basil Cordial
• 30g basil
• 205g water
• 108g sugar
• 45mL (1.5oz) lemon juice
• 1g lemon peel
• 4.3g citric acid
• 3.7 malic acid
• 0.1g coriander seed
• 0.12g fennel
• 0.8 agar agar
Begin by blanching the basil and placing it in a blender. Then add water, sugar, citric and malic acid, lemon peel, lemon juice and the coriander and fennel, which we’ll first crush lightly with a mortar and pestle. Now blend for at least 30 seconds, then place about ¼ of the liquid in a pot and add agar agar. Heat the mixture up and stir constantly for the agar to dissolve and as soon as you see it simmer, take it off the heat and add the rest of the cordial. You’ll then need to chill the liquid fully, by placing it in a freezer or an ice bath. Once a soft gel forms, strain the liquid and bottle this clarified cordial, full of basil flavor.
With the Cordial done, we can now make a beautiful clear-looking Gin Basil Smash - or you can add matcha tea powder to make it green. Keep in mind that if you add it to the pre-batched bottle you would need to use it up in a day, because it will oxidize and turn slightly yellow. Also as a tip, working with grams will make it easier to scale the recipes up or down.
(Photo by PhotoJoseph)
Gin Basil Smash Mix
• 400g (420mL or just over 14oz) gin
• 330g (280mL or 9.5oz) Clarified Basil Cordial
• 1.2g (20 drops) 20% saline solution
The measurements for each of the prebatched cocktails mix will yield around 700 ml (24oz), but you can use the calculator on my website to scale up or down as you see fit. Here I’m adding the gin, Clarified Basil Cordial and saline solution to a bottle, shaking it to mix and adding a label. You can keep these prebatched cocktails up to a week in the fridge or until you are ready to serve them.
Pre-batched Gin Basil Smash
• 100mL (3.5oz) Gin Basil Smash Mix
• 0.4g (1 barspoon) matcha powder
To a shaker add the Gin Basil Smash Mix along with some matcha powder, but you of course leave it out if you want a clear cocktail. The last thing left is to shake hard with ice and double strain over fresh ice into a low tumbler glass. Garnish with some basil and we are ready to move onto cocktail number 2, the Paloma. For this we’ll use acid adjusted Grapefruit Super Juice, which will give us the grapefruit flavor we want in a Paloma, but it will be easier to balance thanks to it being the acid level of a lime.
Paloma Mix
• 375g (400mL or 13.5oz) Tequila Avion
• 200g (200mL or 6.75oz) Grapefruit Super Juice
• 119g (100mL o 3.5oz) agave syrup
• 1.2g (20 drops) 20% saline solution
• 0.2g beetroot powder
We’ll prepare this one in the same way as the Pre-batched Gin Basil Smash, adding the ingredients to a bottle, shaking to mix and adding a label before placing it in the fridge. The beetroot powder will help with the color since the Super Juice isn’t as pink as fresh grapefruit juice, but a few drops of beetroot juice would work too. This will add color, but basically no taste.
Pre-batched Paloma
• 100mL (3.5oz) Paloma Mix
• Soda
For this cocktail you’ll need a highball glass, and like before add 100 ml of the prebatched mix and some ice. Now top it off with soda water and garnish with a slice of grapefruit to serve - quite easy, right? With that we’re on to the last cocktail, the Pisco Sour. This will have a similar preparation as the Prebatched Whiskey Sour, but with Peruvian Pisco and using both lemon and lime.
Pisco Sour Mix
• 385g (400mL or just over 13.5oz) pisco
• 195g (150mL or 5oz) Super Syrup
• 75g (75mL or 2.5oz) Lemon Super Juice
• 75g (75mL or 2.5oz) Lime Super Juice
• 1.2g (20 drops) 20% saline solution
Super Syrup is a combination of sugar and a vegan egg white alternative, and it makes pre-batching egg white sours possible (alongside Super Juice to a lesser extent). In the same manner as the previous cocktails, add the ingredients to a bottle, but make sure to gently turn the bottle instead of shaking it to mix, as the cocktail mix will begin foaming if so. Now place the bottle in the fridge and you are ready to serve.
Pre-batched Pisco Sour
• 100mL (3.5oz) Pisco Sour Mix
The Pisco Sour is the easiest to measure out, since we’re simply adding 100 ml of it to our shaker. With super syrup a reverse dry shake is key for good foam, so add ice and shake to chill and dilute. Then dump the ice and shake again without ice, to achieve the perfect foam and texture of this sour cocktail, followed by double straining the drink into a chilled glass. The only area where the super syrup lacks in comparison to egg whites is how the foam holds drops of bitters - but add a few drops of Angostura or any other bitters you like anyway, to enjoy the wonderful aroma before the first sip.
I can tell you that these are just as good as the traditionally made ones, and you’d usually just have to take my word for it, but today I’m getting some help from a patron of the channel. Make sure to check out the video linked down below to see what PhotoJoseph thinks of the cocktails, and take a look at our Patreon as well - by becoming a member, you are welcome to have a cocktail with us if you happen to be in Slovenia. Cheers!
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