How to Batch Cocktails

June 20th, 2022

Supersize your favourite shareable cocktails for your next summertime celebration. Thirsty crowd, but you would love to enjoy time with your guests as well? We’ve put together a few pro tips on how to craft batched cocktails for all your gatherings. Get out from behind the bar, and sip, savour, celebrate with your guests all summer long!

Single Serve or Punch Bowl

Should you serve your guests handcrafted cocktails individually or have your batched cocktail prepared beforehand?  It’s really a personal preference.  Through a lot of experience hosting, cada día tequila founders tell us about how enjoyable the nice balance of both is for them. 

Batched cocktails are not always easy to figure out.  Figuring out the proportions for a batch isn’t always easy, or knowing which ingredient keeps well if prepared beforehand.  Have you ever considered creating an elevated punch bowl?  Well if not, let us introduce to you a fantastic gathering spot, a social “water cooler” of sorts. They can also help save you time as punch bowl cocktails are crafted with batching in mind. Overall, it involves less shaking and straining as guests can self-serve. We recommend our Patio Peach batched cocktail recipe to enjoy with friends and family on a beautiful, sunny day.

On the other hand, having a personalized single serve cocktail may be the elevated experience you’re after. The size of your group, the time you have beforehand, and the ingredients in the cocktail are all factors that should be considered.  Perhaps the evenings Fried Eggplant with Spiced Honey dish would pair exceptionally with cada día’s Colibri cocktail, a recommended single serve cocktail.

No matter your choice, check out our tips below to help yourself enjoy every delicious moment of the occasion.  

All About the Prep

The day of a gathering can be hectic! Give yourself a helping hand by prepping before your guests arrive:

1. Take Stock of Your Glassware

Do you have the correct number of glasses? Are they clean? Are they easily accessible?

2. Prep The Ice, Ice, Baby!

For an Elevated Punch Bowl:

Add a large ice block to a punch bowl to help with dilution. Large ice cubes melt at a slower rate due to their surface area-to-volume ratio, meaning there is less water diluted and your batched cocktail stays cool for longer. The size of the cube helps prevent a loss of flavour, meaning your guests will be able to truly experience the depth and complexity of your cocktail.

If you’re opting for smaller cubes, tryusing clear ice. It’s pure water without all the extra oxygen and looks stunning. The ice hasn’t absorbed any unnecessary flavours of its environment, meaning your guests can strictly enjoy all the flavours of your batched cocktail. 

Whether you choose large or smaller cubes, don’t put them in too early that it over dilutes your cocktail.

Single Serve:

If your single serve cocktail requires a large ice cube, king cubes or ice balls are recommended. Don’t forget to stock your freezer beforehand, so that you have plenty of ice to serve your guests throughout the celebration.

The large ice prevents dilution and the round shape acts as a garnish and adds a bit of extra flare. cada día tequila’s Amor Y Agave cocktail recipe uses this exact concept. You can even try our tequila reposado straight over a king ice cube to enjoy all the delicious flavours.

Crushed Ice

If your cocktail requires crushed ice, don’t forget to also prep this beforehand. Crushed ice is best for cocktails that require a bit of dilution. For example, those with syrups and juices. cada día tequila cocktails like Buenos Día, cada día margarita, and Winter Tequila Mule provide the perfect opportunity to test out this concept. For perfectly crushed ice, try using a Lewis Bag. 

3. Get Juicing! (Only a Few Hours Before Your Celebration, Of Course!)

As fresh as possible is always best! Filled with vitamins and antioxidants, freshly squeezed juice allows you to know exactly what you’re serving and fueling your body with. When using our premium spirit, cada día tequila, always use the freshest ingredients to elevate your experience even further.  You can feel good about what you’re enjoying, and your guests will surely notice a difference.

4. Herb & Garnish Prep

Slice and prepare your garshines and herbs a few hours before your guests arrive.

5. Crunch Some Numbers

Calculate your batched cocktail’s measurements beforehand. Don’t waste time calculating your doubled or tripled ingredients on the day of your event. Take time to understand how much of each ingredient your batched cocktail will require.

6. Have a Blast While You Do It!

Maybe even throw in your favourite 90’s 2Pac track, “California Love”to get you pumped!

Top Tips:

Large to Small

The smallest (volume) ingredients can often make or break a batched cocktail. For example, if used in excess, ingredients such as sweetener, citrus, and bitters can throw off the flavour profile drastically. In general, begin with nonaromatic ingredients but also least expensive to most expensive (in case your proportions are off somewhere).  Think about when you’re cooking; The general rule is “you can always add, but you can never take away”, especially when it comes to salt and seasoning. The same applies to your batched cocktails – Take time when making adjustments.

Eggs

Your arms will tire with the amount of shaking a batched cocktail with a foamy (egg whites) would require. Save these recipes for your individual cocktails. Check out our Blueberry Paradise cocktail recipe to treat yourself and try your hand at incorporating eggs into a single serve cocktail.

Fizz for Last

Ingredients with bubbles (tonic, club soda, etc.) will likely go flat if prepped too early. We recommend adding these ingredients immediately before serving. Pro tip: Don’t forget to chill these ingredients before adding them to the batch. This will leave your guests cool and refreshed in the summer heat.

No matter the occasion or celebration, you now have the top tips on how to sip, savour, and celebrate with your favourite, batched cada día cocktails all summer long! We’d love to see how you’re putting your newfound knowledge to use! Tag us on social media (@cadadiatequila) for a shoutout!

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