Take the setting of a modern-day bar: Digital lifestyle has upgraded patience levels that run out faster than a phone battery. In a yester world, a frantic bartender would have pushed out buckets of a punch, one of the first batched cocktails, or a Polynesian tropical tiki-drink like the Mai Tai. The ease (and art) of batching cocktails has prevailed since time immemorial.
Present day status: The bar world has evolved marginally and batching cocktails has become a tool not only to save time and effort but to achieve complex creativity in a glass.
When the bar team at The Bombay Canteen was creating cocktails for their latest cocktail menu 10/10, a tequila cocktail fat washed in ghee - named King Fu - was inspired by Manchow soup. Infused with ginger, garlic, and onion, it had a vegetable broth for body, and finished with sherry, apple cider vinegar and apple juice. “The first time we made it à la minute, the result was underwhelming. The components just didn’t come together,” Prantik Haldar, Beverage Innovations Head, The Bombay Canteen, explains.
Batching it with 21% dilution and an overnight in the freezer, however, transformed it into a coherent and more balanced drink. The broth and aromatics melded seamlessly; technically, no fat remained in the mix, and the acidity found its harmony. This slow infusion allowed the flavours to rest and settle, creating a complexity that felt both sophisticated and theatrical, Haldar explains.
If you have noticed bars are serving you your order in a jiffy, or you’ve seen them pour a ready concoction and carry out finishing steps at countertops, then you have witnessed the art of batching. “A batch cocktail is essentially when all the components of a drink – spirits, liqueurs, syrups, acids – are pre-combined into one mix/bottle. There can be a ready-to-serve pre-diluted batch cocktail; undiluted cocktails that need shaking or stirring right before service; and the pre-diluted and carbonated cocktails that are batched with the right amount of dilution and then carbonated before being stored cold. These are ready-to-pour, fizzy, and refreshing straight from the fridge or freezer.
“If your cocktail includes protein – say pineapple juice, egg white (albumin), or dairy then batching too early can actually damage the texture. Alcohol and acidity will start breaking down the proteins, and the result is a drink that’s lost its body, or fluffiness. However, for a spirit-forward drink like a Negroni, batching works beautifully. When gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth are mixed and left to rest in a bottle, especially in a fridge, the flavours mellow and come together in a cohesive way,” says Haldar.
Batching also makes it possible to create drinks with more complex builds. You can use six, seven, even ten ingredients, and still execute quickly and consistently during service, without compromising on quality. “A good example is our cocktail Waiting List. It’s a carbonated drink that uses silver tequila fat- washed with coconut. We pair it with a house-made soda made from curry leaf and coconut water. The two are combined, carbonated, and bottled. Since the tequila has already been fat-washed, there’s no room for spirit substitution, and the drink is served as a complete, ready-to-go batch.”
Batching, Haldar adds, is a natural progression in how modern bars operate. “On busy nights, we see 100–150 people ordering multiple cocktails. Thanks to batching, a bartender is able to manage that flow while still making complex, technique-driven drinks and engaging with guests. It’s the same as in a professional kitchen. The different elements of a dish are prepped separately, then brought together on the pass. Cocktails today are following that same path. Batching is just a tool for efficiency – it’s a canvas for creativity,” says Haldar.
Batch with care
Yangdup Lama, mixologist and genius behind Sidecar in Delhi, lists a number of significant advantages of batching, including increased efficiency during peak service hours, consistent flavour profiles, and the ability to creatively experiment with innovative mixes. “They are particularly useful for events and larger gatherings, as well as for reducing waste by managing ingredients more effectively. However, batch cocktails also have their drawbacks. They can diminish the personal touch and individualised experience that come with handcrafted drinks, potentially neglecting the use of fresh, seasonal ingredients. Additionally, reliance on batch mixing may lead to a decline in traditional bartending skills and limit social interaction with patrons. Ultimately, a balanced approach that combines both batch and freshly crafted cocktails can enhance service while still celebrating the artistry of bartending,” Lama concludes.
Certain techniques that need batching, include clarification (mixing your drink with heated milk/cream and citric acid and then separating the curdle through a coffee filter to remove cloudiness); fat washing (Mixing a spirit with fat like butter or ghee, freezing it and straining it for a smooth texture) and Sous vide infusion (Vacuum sealing ingredients and cooking them in a water or spirit bath to extract flavours).
“You may have a few batched cocktails that are technique driven, or a preselected batched menu for seamless service and consistency. That’s fair. But to have most drinks batched is definitely lazy bartending. You are taking out the joy of conversations and creating or adapting to the taste profile of your guests. The magical experience of balancing flavours and creating. The art of it all,” says Shatbhi Basu, who refers to Purple Rain a drink she created using blueberries and blue cheese with peppered vodka and aromatic basil. “The clear drink is made by infusing vodka with blueberry puree and blue cheese and blending it to get maximum flavour into the spirit. It is then washed with hot milk and cream and filtered for clarity. This is then bottled and refrigerated. On order, we shake it with fresh basil and sprinkle with crushed black pepper,” she explains.
We are in the midst of an evolution of how a bar functions. Avinash Kapoli, founder, Soka Bar, which has ranked 28th in the list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025, calls it a time where bars have nailed creativity without losing out on time and quality. “Batch is just great prep work - it is all part of combining ingredients together as prep so you save seconds on fixing a drink saving effort, and all the while improving the drink. It also pushes the envelope for creating complex flavours with more ingredients and techniques like sous vide, clarification and infusion. “Earlier, bartenders would make a syrup for certain individual ingredients like fruits, spices and herbs. Batching is forethought. It ensures consistency, and efficiency during service,” says Kapoli.
Think about it: be it a bar, house party or a wedding cocktail, nobody wants to wait too long for their drink. “One bartender has to make 20-30 drinks at a time, this just makes things flow easily. Usually, we would have to use five ingredients, measure them and add to the drink. Now, all that is required is to shake, stir or aerate. We can interact with customers, explain the drink and do it with confidence. It’s like sambar and rice. You are going to mix it anyway,” he quips.
Taste accuracy
Navjot Singh, beverage director at Lair Delhi, which landed on the eighth rank on Asia’s 50 best, is of the opinion that batching cocktails give you liberty to experiment drinks that cannot be made on the spot, unlike a classic. “One cocktail on his upcoming menu is Cheesecake Highball. He needs a centrifuge to separate the cheesecake from the drink. Batching just makes sense,” says Lair, who has 27 drinks on the menu.
Singh began his career as a pastry chef and his inspiration stems from the kitchen. “As a baker, we measure everything in weight. I implemented the same approach in cocktails. When I am travelling, my bar team delivers every drink without change in flavour. I started batching my recipe by weight. If a bartender has to pour 10 drinks of 60 ml each, he may not pour an accurate measure in every glass. Even a 5 ml difference stands out. That’s when we hear the customer say: ‘It’s not like last time.’ If a bartender is making five drinks at a time, it would take roughly take one-and-a-half minutes. So, two to three drinks would take 40-50 seconds to shake or stir the drink and garnish it before its on your table. Batching lasts about 10 days in a vacuum sealed bottle, but luckily, we finish them within three days,” he signs off.