It works well any time you need to serve cocktails quickly or have a large number to prepare – like when you’ve got 20 people coming for drinks and you want to greet everyone with a Christmas Punch on arrival! 

If you don’t think you’ll get through the batch, just mix all the non-perishable ingredients together – anything with an alcoholic base, bitters or sugar syrup. Any fresh ingredients like herbs or fresh juices and purees can be kept separately. 

You can then add the fresh items when you are making the cocktails, and the non-perishable ingredients can be stored for use at a later time. Waste not, want not! 

One of the best examples of batching a cocktail is the Negroni. The recipe is equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth. 

To keep it super simple, just buy 700mL bottles of each and mix them together in a large saucepan or bucket. Use a funnel to decant the mix back into the original bottles, and they will keep in the fridge for months.

Next time you want a Negroni, just pour the mix over ice, stir and garnish with an orange wedge. You (and your very grateful mates) will have a cocktail in hand in under 30 seconds.

Too easy!