Batch Cocktails
Page 9
3 cups 100% pomegranate juice (such as Knudsen)
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped peeled fresh ginger
8 cinnamon sticks
8 star anise pods
8 green cardamom pods
TO SERVE
10 thin orange or clementine wheels
10 thin lemon wheels
10 star anise pods
Up to 1 day before serving, make the batch. Pour grape and pomegranate juices, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cardamom in a 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, adjusting heat as needed to avoid a full boil. After 10 minutes, ladle a small amount into a cup, let cool for a second, and taste for spice levels. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes for additional spice extraction, if desired. Remove from heat.
Carefully strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a slow cooker or multicooker on the “keep warm” setting, or return to saucepan, cover, and keep warm over very low heat. (If you’d prefer to wait before serving, strain into a heat-safe container and let cool, then refrigerate. Rewarm gently before serving.)
To serve, ladle mixture into teacups and garnish each drink with an orange wheel, a lemon wheel, and a star anise pod.
Rhuby Shrub
MAKES ABOUT 10 SERVINGS IN A 2-QUART PITCHER
This delicate pink blossom of a drink from Justin Siemer of Portland, Oregon, just sings spring. It’s halfway between a Ruby Red grapefruit cordial and a vinegar-based shrub, with the citrus bridging the flavors between tangy rhubarb and heady vanilla. The drink’s balance will depend on the acidity of the grapefruits, rhubarb, and vinegar you use; start with ¼ cup fresh grapefruit juice in the serving pitcher and increase as needed to taste. Leftover pickled rhubarb from the shrub is nice on a charcuterie plate.
¼ to ½ cup fresh grapefruit juice, to taste
1½ cups rhubarb-grapefruit shrub (recipe follows)
TO SERVE
5 cups chilled club soda or seltzer
10 thin grapefruit wedges (optional)
Up to 2 hours before serving, make the batch. Prepare grapefruit juice and pour into a 2-quart pitcher. Add shrub and stir to mix. Taste for balance, and add more grapefruit juice, if desired. If not using immediately, seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate.
To serve, stir mixture well, then add chilled club soda. Pour into ice-filled collins glasses and garnish each drink with a grapefruit wedge, if desired.
RHUBARB-GRAPEFRUIT SHRUB • MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS
½ pink grapefruit
¾ cup water
¾ cup sugar
½ cup white balsamic vinegar
1 (5-inch) rosemary sprig
¼ vanilla bean
2 ribs rhubarb, sliced into thin disks
At least 24 hours before serving, remove zest from grapefruit half in strips using a vegetable peeler. Juice grapefruit half and set aside.
Combine zest, water, sugar, vinegar, and rosemary in a medium saucepan. Split and scrape vanilla bean and add seeds and pod to pan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then stir in rhubarb slices and reserved grapefruit juice and return to a bare simmer. As soon as you spot the first bubble, cover pan, remove from heat, and let steep until cooled to room temperature.
Pour mixture, including solids, into a resealable container and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding solids (or refrigerate pickled rhubarb, if desired). Refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Simple Syrups
I like to prepare just a bit more simple syrup than I need, in case of spills, but it’s also handy to have around to sweeten lemonade or iced coffee. You can always make simple syrup on the stove, but when I’m working with easily dissolved granulated sugar or honey, I prefer to just shake it up with hot water in a mason jar. (An electric teakettle comes in handy for the hot water if your tap doesn’t get very hot.) For richer solutions or heftier raw sugars such as demerara, warm the mixture in a saucepan as directed.
1:1 SIMPLE SYRUP
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP PLUS 3 TABLESPOONS
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup very hot water
Combine sugar and hot water in a resealable container, such as a mason jar, and stir to dissolve slightly. As soon as it’s cool enough to handle, seal container and shake until sugar is completely dissolved. Let cool completely and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
2:1 SIMPLE SYRUP
MAKES ABOUT ½ CUP PLUS 1 TABLESPOON
½ cup sugar
¼ cup very hot water
Combine sugar and hot water in a resealable container, such as a mason jar, and stir to dissolve slightly. As soon as it’s cool enough to handle, seal container and shake until sugar is completely dissolved. Alternatively, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and warm over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Do not let boil. Let cool completely and refrigerate for up to 1 month.
2:1 DEMERARA SYRUP
MAKES ABOUT 7 TABLESPOONS
½ cup demerara sugar
¼ cup water
Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Do not let boil. Pour into a resealable container and let cool. Seal well and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
1:1 HONEY SYRUP
MAKES ABOUT 7 TABLESPOONS
3½ tablespoons honey
3½ tablespoons very hot water
Combine honey and hot water in a resealable container, such as a mason jar, and stir to dissolve slightly. As soon as it’s cool enough to handle, seal container and shake until mixture is uniformly blended. Let cool completely and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
2:1 HONEY SYRUP
MAKES ABOUT 1⅓ CUPS
1 cup honey
½ cup water
Combine honey and water in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is uniformly blended. Do not let boil. Pour into a resealable container and let cool. Seal well and refrigerate for up to 1 month.
3:1 HONEY SYRUP
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
¾ cup honey
¼ cup water
Combine honey and water in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is uniformly blended. Do not let boil. Pour into a resealable container and let cool. Seal well and refrigerate for up to 1 month.
3:2 HONEY SYRUP
MAKES ABOUT 1¼ CUPS
¾ cup honey
½ cup water
Combine honey and water in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is uniformly blended. Do not let boil. Pour into a resealable container and let cool. Seal well and refrigerate for up to 1 month.
USEFUL VOLUME CONVERSIONS
1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = ½ fluid ounce = 15 milliliters
2 tablespoons = 1 fluid ounce
4 tablespoons = ¼ cup = 12 teaspoons = 2 fluid ounces = 60 milliliters
8 tablespoons = ½ cup = 4 fluid ounces
1 cup = 8 fluid ounces = 240 milliliters
1 quart = 4 cups = 32 fluid ounces = 0.95 liters
1 gallon = 4 quarts = 16 cups = 3.8 liters
How to Batch Other Cocktails
What, the sixty-odd recipes in this book aren’t satisfying every cocktail craving you’ve got? Fine, sure, sometimes you just need a Negroni—or a Manhattan. I get it.
If you’d like to scale up a favorite recipe, there are just a few decisions to make. And, sorry, a bit of math. Hate math? Can I recommend some Happiness (this page) to numb the pain?
KEEP IT FRESH
No matter what recipe you’re using, follow the same timing guidelines as I’ve used in the drinks in this book. Mix spirits, liqueurs, chilled syrup
s, and bitters in advance for drinks you’re going to serve within a few days, but hold off on making and adding fresh juices until just an hour or two before serving. This means you can go ahead and batch your full Negroni, but a pitcher of margaritas or daiquiris shouldn’t have citrus until you’re just about ready to serve it.
DON’T JUST MULTIPLY, CONSIDER DILUTION
Cocktails need water to soften alcohol’s burn and calm the syrupy nature of liqueur. It’s usually added by stirring or shaking. So if you’d like to mix the core ingredients ahead but still stir or shake each drink to order, you can move on here.
To pare down the last-minute effort, I like to account for dilution ahead of time, so batched drinks can be simply poured into the glass. How much dilution you need depends on the drink.
When you’re trying to batch a cocktail for the first time, make a sample drink with dilution before you commit to the full batch. Chill it quickly in your freezer and taste-test before making a pitcher.
For drinks served up in a stemmed glass, calculate 17 to 25 percent of the drink’s volume before dilution and add that amount of water. Where do those numbers get us? If your Manhattan has 3 ounces of mixed liquor and vermouth, you’ll want to add between ½ ounce and ¾ ounce water per drink, depending on the proof of your whiskey and your personal preferences. Chill down and taste one drink and add a little more water if you’d like. Keep in mind that you can always add more water to the batch, but you can’t take water away.
For cocktails you’re planning to pour into ice-filled cups, you’re probably going to prefer something more in the 10 to 15 percent dilution range, depending on the strength and sweetness of your ingredients, since the ice in the glass or pitcher will melt and contribute its own dilution. This means your 3-ounce drink can probably take ¼ to ½ ounce of added dilution. For a drink with club soda, you can skip diluting with still water and simply add a little more club soda per drink.
Once you know the volume of a single cocktail including dilution, you can multiply that by the number of servings you need and find a serving vessel. I like to make liter versions of boozy drinks so that I can chill them in the freezer in a well-sealed container of about 8 servings. Drinks that are going to be poured over ice work fine in the refrigerator. If you’re not sure the full batch is going to fit into your pitcher, mix the complete recipe in a larger container, then pour it into multiple vessels or jars. It’s always nice to have another well-chilled cocktail (or six) ready when the first bottle is gone.
A NOTE ON BITTERS
If the single-serving cocktail recipe you’re making calls for 2 dashes bitters and you’re trying to calculate measurements for a batch of 8 drinks, the easiest thing is just to add 16 dashes bitters. Converting to a volume measure is tricky business—dashes vary depending on the capacity and fullness of the bottle they come from, the size of the opening, the speed of the shake, and the angle of the delivery, among other factors. Bartenders estimate a range from 29 to 60 dashes per 1 ounce (or per 2 tablespoons). You can start on the light side and taste a bit of the drink (on ice, if appropriate) to make sure it’s to your liking. Unless you’re making a hundred bitters-laden drinks—or drinks where there are more than a few dashes per serving—don’t worry too much about counting the volume of bitters in your total above.
Cocktails by Season & Occasion
SPRING
Garden Rambler
Derby Cup
Del Rio Punch
Porch Swing at Sundown
Tipsy Daisy
Rhuby Shrub
SUMMER
Birds Again
Sandy Bottoms
Side Porch Sangria
Bear at the Turn
Lace and Fancy Things
Riled and Wrangled
Honeydew Limeade
FALL
Addison Street
Honey Crisp
Bone Machine
Greyscale
Unchained Melody
Bardstown
Three-Piece Suit
WINTER
Tongue in Cheek
Bound by Venus
Improved Blood Orange Punch
Grand Prix
The Night Shift
Hook, Line, and Sinker
Double Down
The Blaylock
Kumquat Shandy
Mulled Maroon
BACKYARD BRUNCH
Garden Rambler
Birds Again
The Host’s Punch
Sandy Bottoms
Grand Prix
One-Star Yelp Review
The Sundance Sparkler
Jägermeister Bloody Mary
Perfect Circle
Ratterwick Punch
Sunrise at Koko Head
The Blaylock
Honeydew Limeade
ELEGANT DINNER OR COCKTAIL PARTY
The Invitation
Bound by Venus
Tenochtitlan
Islay and Olive
Perfect Circle
All She Wrote
Hook, Line, and Sinker
ENGAGEMENT PARTY
Garden Rambler
Birds Again
Tongue in Cheek
Side Porch Sangria
Lace and Fancy Things
Tipsy Daisy
Ratterwick Punch
TV AND TAKEOUT
One-Star Yelp Review
Bone Machine
Closing Argument
Rio Housewives
Bitter Ex
Double Down
Mulled Maroon
VALENTINE’S DAY
The Invitation
Improved Blood Orange Punch
Tenochtitlan
Tipsy Daisy
All She Wrote
The Frankie Panky
Bitter Ex
Happiness
Hook, Line, and Sinker
CINCO DE MAYO
Bear at the Turn
Porch Swing at Sundown
Friendly Fires Punch
Reina Punch
Infinity Pool
Three-Piece Suit
JULY 4TH BARBECUE
Sandy Bottoms
Side Porch Sangria
Porch Swing at Sundown
The Poolside
Fya Ball
Reina Punch
Agony and Ecstasy
Infinity Pool
Sunrise at Koko Head
Turmeric Pineapple
The Blaylock
Pomegranate-Citrus Sans-gria
GAME DAY/TAILGATING
Honey Crisp
Riled and Wrangled
Friendly Fires Punch
Jägermeister Bloody Mary
Chipotle Collins
Two Words
Unchained Melody
HALLOWEEN PARTY
Improved Blood Orange Punch
Honey Crisp
Closing Argument
Unchained Melody
Bardstown
Pomegranate-Citrus Sans-gria
Mulled Maroon
THANKSGIVING FEAST
Addison Street
Sneaky Peat
Two Words
Principessa di
Sole
National Treasure
Unchained Melody
Hook, Line, and Sinker
Double Down
Kumquat Shandy
HOLIDAY GATHERING
L’Aventura Punch
Addison Street