Preparing cocktails in batches makes the host's job easier at a party.

Preparing cocktails and mixed drinks in large quantities is to hosts what cooking in large batches is to those who, despite their busy schedules, want to enjoy home-cooked meals. When guests arrive, simply take the pitcher out of the refrigerator, add some ice cubes to a glass, and serve. There's no need to improvise or prepare complicated cocktails, and the party starts early.

Not all recipes work equally well in batches. Mixing drinks, like martinis and Old Fashioneds, are better suited to this trick than other types of drinks, while frozen margaritas are not. Generally speaking, if the drink contains a mixture of bitters, sugar, and spirits, it's probably a good choice for batching.

To scale up a recipe, the simplest method is to convert ounces to cups: if a cocktail recipe calls for one ounce of vodka and you want to make eight, you'll need one cup, since 8 ounces equals one cup. Then add water: 20% of the alcohol content if the drinks won't be served immediately, or 15% if they will be served right away. When it's time to add ice, you'll need approximately one cup for every 10 drinks.

The mixture is stored in a pitcher or glass jar with a lid. This way, there's no need to dirty extra containers, and the drink is protected from odors that sometimes seep in from the refrigerator; without this protection, a martini could taste like last night's lasagna.

The principles of batch preparation aren't limited to simple drinks. A French 75, for example, contains gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and champagne. The juice and champagne don't keep well: the juice loses flavor and the champagne loses its fizz if left overnight in the pitcher, or even for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. The solution is to prepare the gin and simple syrup in advance, and on the day of the party, add the lemon juice and champagne in the appropriate proportions.

As a general rule, it's best to limit the prep work to the base of bitters, sugar, and liqueur. Juices and fizzy drinks are too delicate to keep well once mixed, and adding them at the end takes hardly any time. Remaking a batch because the ingredients spoiled overnight, on the other hand, is time-consuming and expensive.