Making Cocktails In Bulk? Get These 7 Tips And Tools First
When hosting large gatherings, it is practical (and necessary) to prepare things in bulk ahead of time to save both time and effort. Making individual servings is both time consuming, and more importantly, very labour intensive.
If things are prepared beforehand, whether at a wedding reception or a corporate gathering, it ensures your guests can consistently be looked after without anyone waiting on food and drinks.
However, making large batches of beverages requires considerations and tools that are different from those required for smaller servings.
Mixing Containers
Standard shakers and jiggers do not suffice for bigger crowds. Pitchers or carafes are perfect if you want to serve cocktails for a comparatively smaller group, but upgrade it to a punch bowl if you have a roster of ingredients going into the drink. The bigger surface area allows for easy mixing as well as serving. Clear and acrylic bowls can double up as centrepieces featuring your drink in its full glory.
Beverage dispensers with mechanised spouts are ideal for self-serving stations, because the guests can help themselves, and no one is required to constantly monitor or be present at the cocktail booth.
There are even spouts available on their own that one can screw into the hull of the fruit, emptied out to be used as the container.
Measuring Tools
The biggest hurdle in making large batches is that the drinks need to be consistent in their flavour throughout, so it is not only essential to stick to the recipe measurements to a milligram, but also invest in tools such as measuring cups and digital scales.
You can even use calculators to multiply and scale up your recipe as per the head count. Beverages usually have a lesser number of ingredients than savouries or desserts, and at times, tweaking the ratios of ingredients can result in entirely different beverages than intended.
It is especially important to always measure out the alcohol quantity to be used in a cocktail.
Bar Spoons and Stirring Rods
Cocktail ingredients can often accumulate at the bottom if not stirred occasionally, so it is recommended to invest in a long-handled stirring rod. Bar spoons and ladles can also be used for smaller batches, but they would not reach all the way to the bottom for larger and deeper vessels.
Ice Coolers
Most cocktails are served chilled, so an ice cooler at your disposal will make sure you need not run around for ice when serving them. You can also freeze a portion of the cocktail in ice trays and drop them inside the serving barrels so that the drinks remain cool without getting diluted.
Ladles
Large containers like punch bowls do not have handles or spouts, so ladles help guests scoop out a sufficient amount of the beverage in one attempt. You can also have clean serving mugs around that can directly be dunked into the bowl.
Tips For Bulk Cocktails
Pre-chill all your ingredients—from mixers, to syrups and even your serving glasses so that you need not depend entirely on blocks of ice to keep your drinks cool throughout the event.
Prepare your garnishes in advance and submerge them in ice-cold water to prevent them from browning. Garnishes make or break your drinks, but preparing them on the job can be tiring and time-consuming.
When multiplying your recipes, reduce the amount of alcohol by a few millilitres, so that at no point do your drinks become too strong.
Before committing to making a large batch of cocktails, you can test out the recipe on a smaller scale. This way, you can make sure the proportion of the ingredients and the balance of the sweetness and acidity is just right before replicating it on a large scale.
Do remember: like everything, alcohol is best had in moderation. Drink responsibly!
