‘Batch Cocktails’ Is the Book You Need for Your Next Holiday Party

Welcome to “Cookbook of the Week.” This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own.

I’m bringing in a different type of cookbook this week. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and you likely have your menu planned by now; your ingredients have been purchased, the pie dough is chilling, and I pray your turkey is defrosting in the fridge. Depending on what the Thanksgiving table holds for us, be it cheerful or dreadful conversation, I think a drink is in order, no? This week’s cookbook of the week is Batch Cocktails.

It was only a few years ago that I started batching cocktails for parties, and it changed everything for me as a host. For the unfamiliar, batching is when you make a large quantity of a drink ahead of time, pre-mixed, so that it can be readily poured with little more than a twist, ice cube, or splash of tonic. Do this, and there’s less tending to guests, less clean-up, and you actually have more freedom to be creative with a fancy signature drink. 

Batching party cocktails is the number-one tip I recommend to folks who are hosting—and there will be lots of hosting in these next five weeks. This book can help.

A bit about the book

Written by Maggie Hoffman and published in 2019, Batch Cocktails reads very much like having your eccentric best friend in your kitchen. She’s telling you to try some weird stuff—like mix coffee and grapefruit juice together—you’d never trust it if someone else told you, but it’s your best friend so, OK. And you know what? It’s a good thing you listened. 

This book has 65 cocktail recipes, with a full chapter devoted to alcohol-free drinks. Though Hoffman is quite a fountain of original boozy recipes (she founded the drink section of Serious Eats and concocts libations for Epicurious) in this, her second book, she features recipes by bartenders from bars and restaurants from around the country. The twist? Single-serving cocktails from chic cocktail bars have become batches to serve eight to 12 in your home, with no corners cut. 

But batching a stiff drink is more than simply multiplying the ingredient list and chucking the booze into the fridge. There are fresh fruit juices to consider, herbal infusions, fizzy additions, and the great issue of proper dilution. Hoffman prioritizes flavor, balance of alcohol, and ease for the batcher.

A great book for the clever party host

You’re not just any party host, and this is no simple collection of basic drinks. This is a selection of nuanced and glamorous cocktails fit to impress—and all the multiplication and dilution math of making big batches has been taken care of for you. Even if you’re doubling one of these batches, that math is much easier than starting from scratch. You’re party hosting smarter, and that makes you very clever indeed.

If you want to have an impressive, delicious punch that makes your guests’ eyes light up, this is the cocktail book for you. If you’ve been looking for a winter-themed drink for your holiday party (or spring birthday, or summer eclipse party) and you want to be free to mingle and enjoy your own shindig, this is the book for you. Batch Cocktails gives you flavorful and interesting recipes, timelines to prepare the drink ahead of time, and the drinks are gorgeous, inventive, and downright festive. When party time comes, you can just pour and enjoy.

The recipes you can expect 

The recipes are categorized by chapters titled with primary flavor traits, like Savory & Smoky, Spicy, or Fruity & Tart, with conversions and tips on batching at the end of the book. Most of the recipes have a reasonable ingredient list of four to eight ingredients, including liquors, syrups, citrus juices, and water, though there are some punch recipes that require more. 

Hoffman is specific in her alcohol recommendations, providing helpful examples. For instance, she’ll write something like “1 cup 100-proof rye (such as Rittenhouse),” rather than simply “whiskey.” Specifying the proof, type of whiskey, and giving a name example is extremely helpful—however, it is also possibly limiting depending on what you have available in your area. Many recipes include something more specialized, like Chartreuse or Punt e Mes vermouth. So unless you have a particularly robust and varied bar at home, you’ll need access to a liquor store with a somewhat sophisticated selection to get the necessary special booze, or give yourself enough time to have it delivered. 

Once you do have the necessary ingredients, though, Hoffman’s directions are perfectly clear. She gives an anecdote or description of the flavors in the headnote of every recipe, then usually two to four paragraphs of mixing, timing, and chilling details. Any recipe that includes a homemade element, like cranberry cordial for instance, will be detailed at the bottom of the page and is never more complicated than a simple boil-and-strain type of situation. 

Besides the main table of contents, there are actually a couple of unexpected and possibly more useful sub-lists in this book too. Right after her tips on aging cocktails there’s a list of “Drinks That Keep” and their page numbers. In the back there is a whole section with suggestions for drinks by season, and occasion, like the best drinks to batch for Thanksgiving, but also tailgating, an engagement party, or “TV and Takeout.” 

The drink I made this week

This week I had trouble making a decision. There are quite a few gloriously showy recipes I ended up bookmarking for my Christmas party next month (a shame that I need to pare the choices down to two), but what to pick for a normal week? Well, it’s been quite a week, so I flipped over to the “Boozy” chapter (slowing down at “Bitter” but pushing through) and settled on the Bardstown.

The Bardstown is a 1:2:3 drink of dry curaçao, rye whiskey, and apple brandy with an accent of orange bitters. The headnote says, “It’s a potent little number…” and one sip certainly put some hair on my chest. But it’s not the ABV that sold me on this one; her description was spot-on. Hoffman describes the impact of the aromatic citrus, how it rounds out the rye and brandy, and I certainly noticed how those small additions—bitters and orange twists—soften the fiery edge of this strong drink. Furthermore, I like that this is one of the “Drinks That Keep.” I can store the remaining Bardstown in my fridge for when I need it, whether that’s a party or a relaxing Thursday.

How to buy it

Think it’s too late for Thanksgiving? Not so! Batch Cocktails is available as an ebook as well as a hardcover. You can get it immediately with the Kindle app (which can be downloaded with any smartphone or tablet). Once you have your copy, write down your ingredient list and hit the liquor store. Better yet, delegate. Allow me to recommend the Perfect Circle cocktail. It has a simple ingredient list, bitter and sweet aperitivo qualities. Perfect before a holiday meal. 

If you insist on acquiring the hard copy (which I understand; it is very pretty), you may not have it in time for Thanksgiving, but you will have it in plenty of time for your Christmas or New Year’s Celebration.