This is largely my approach and understanding of the topic.
For context, i’m managing a Bar that is attached to a 200pax Fine dining restaurant, which is separate from the restaurant itself and services walk in guests. For the restaurant, all the drinks that can be batched, or make sense to batch are so that we may expedite them during service to runners.
All of the batched drinks still maintain a visual process of shaking, wet or dry and topping with champagne/ice/garnish in one way or another, which gives guests at the bar a visual theatre to appreciate, however; drinks that are made from ingredients on the back bar, Negroni, Old Fashioned, Martini’s they’re currently not batched, as it removes requisite skill from the process but it also makes the job boring if everything that can be batched is batched.
I think the balance is in making sure that if something is batched then it is done so for the benefit for the customer and the service and also to the benefit of the drink - in such a way that it would be excessive to try and replicate a build of this complexity a la minute. I wouldn’t expect a chef to make a Hollandaise sauce every single time they get an order during breakfast, I imagine they’d make a large batch and serve it over the eggs on an eggs Benedict with a ladle. same is my theory for batching.
To touch on the area of which ingredients we are using and how processed they are is an almost separate topic, but one i’m fond of also.
Beta cocktails is a little booklet that has a page called “precepts”
I’ll quote entry 3. “ Inspiration for new cocktails is not found in the produce isle at Whole Foods. However, it may be found in dusty bottles on your back bar.
” - by Kirk Estopinal + Maksym Pazuniak
This has been one of my main focuses for the new side menu i’m building drinks at work as i think this philosophy is important. doing a half-milk-punch-basil clarified-martini with some fancy flower mist and odd bitters might make for a great drink, but is the preparation worth it versus a regular martini. I feel the answer to this question comes about if you ponder for a moment what the intention of the drink is. what is the drink about, what is it really spekaing to? do you need to milk clarify basil and vodka, or is there a more strightforward method to catching that flavor component without the technical set up? are there basil tinctures i could use instead? bitters?
To that - If you’re adding infusions, clarifying techniques or making punch syrups they should be in aid to focus your drinks - not to add complexity or use technique for the sake of it. you shouldn’t be doing oleos from peels and arguing that “it’s environmentally friendly” when you now are bound by menu to buying that amount of fruit each time just for the peels to make your special syrup, it is contrary to the intention - use the peels from the lemons you squeeze but make the resulting drink a special so that you only use what you need.
Do i think batching removes technical skill of bartending, yeah - a bit, do i think it gives you room to put out more complex drinks without needing to touch 6+ bottles - also yeah. I feel Donn beach made the Donns mix #2 with that same necessity in mind - and i feel to harken to that other thread about blending rums, that’s also pretty close to pre-batching drinks or at least making your own house blend of rum so you don’t need to touch three bottles.
my two cents.