Batch Cocktails: Make-Ahead Pitcher Drinks for Every Occasion

A hip, accessible guide to batch cocktail-making for entertaining, with 65 recipes that can be made hours--or weeks --ahead of time so that hosts and hostesses have one less thing to worry about as the doorbell rings.

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As anyone who has hosted a dinner party knows, cocktail hour is the most fun part of the evening for guests--but the most stressful for whomever is in charge of keeping the drinks flowing. The solution, though, is simple: batch it In this fun collection, Maggie Hoffman offers 65 delicious and creative cocktails that you don't have to stir or shake to order; rather, they are designed to stay fresh when made ahead and served out of a pitcher. Recipes such as Tongue in Cheek (gin, Meyer lemon, thyme, Cocchi Rosa), Friendly Fires (mezcal, chile vodka, watermelon, lime), Birds & Bees Punch (rum, cucumber, green tea, lemon), and even alcohol-free options are organized by flavor profile--herbal, boozy, bitter, fruity and tart, and so on--to make choosing and whipping up a perfect pitcher of cocktails a total breeze.

MAGGIE HOFFMAN is the author of The One-Bottle Cocktail. She writes about cocktails, wine, and beer for the James Beard Award-winning website Serious Eats, where she founded the drinks section in 2011 and served as managing editor. Hoffman has written for Wine Enthusiast, the San Francisco Chronicle, and San Francisco magazine, as well as the websites of Saveur, Food & Wine, and others. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and more than a few bottles of booze.