Batching.

Batching” has become an increasingly applied method during the preparation of ingredients, and cocktails. This method guarantees higher speed and efficiency of serving drinks, but above all consistency in quality and taste. Due to making preparation faster, a bartender has more space and time to attend to his/her guests, presentation or an interesting story or ingredient that could create the unforgettable experience guests come to experience.

When prepping ready-made cocktails, it is crucial to pay attention to a few key factors that should under no circumstance be neglected such as: alcohol percentage contents in a final product, clarity of ingredients, avoidance of fresh/raw ingredients that do not have a long shelf life and the necessary dilution of the final product with water. Due to the drink not being shaken, or mixed, there is no room left in the prep for the important ingredient in every cocktail - water, and therefore dilution becomes paramount during the final preparation of a ready-made cocktail.

During batching focus mainly on drinks that are exclusively built on an alcoholic beverage, clear or clarified ingredients. The reason for these two pillars is because the higher the percentage of alcohol the more stable a cocktail becomes. If the percentage of the alcoholic drink is lacking, and residue from fruits remains in the liquid, the carbonation can be interrupted by the floating particles and can erase the structural integrity of the bubbles. There’s a little trick to dilute ready-made drinks: Weigh the drink before mixing / shaking. After doing so, weigh the drink again. Calculate the difference in weight. The number obtained by comparison is how much water needs to be used to dilute a ready-made cocktail. (1 g water = 1 ml water).

More about essential & advanced preparation techniques can be found in the book.