pre mixed drink ideas for large group

looking for ideas of 3-4 classic cocktails that would fair well with minimal prep for 70-80 people. for example, mixing together rums, juices, & syrups in ratio so they can be poured/shaken w/ice, and garnished appropriately.

i get that this may be proper cocktail heresy, but we're expecting a large influx of people all at once, and would like to minimize initial wait times.

thanks!

Big Parties are a night-mare to Bar tend yourself, so yea do a big batch of cocktails
you can do Pain Killers (or the Kraken Killer variation) Mai Tais (Island style or Classic)
a Rum Punch (like a Caribbean Punch) works great or any classic punch recipe
I find putting sliced fruit in the Cocktail mix also adds a nice visual appeal.

Just use two or three drink dispensers & don't worry about garnish
use lots of plastic cups & plenty of ice (not in the premix of course)

if you do that you may get a moment or two to enjoy your party.
I don't remember the threads but do a search for mixing cocktails for a group etc.
for batch recipes, there are some in the Bum's books also.

Like ATP said - you'll need to at a bare minimum do a couple of big pre-mixes or punches. Even when I've hosted small parties of 10-12 people I've found that I'll be behind on drinks immediately if I'm mixing each one individually.

I will typically have a large punch out to start the evening. Keep in mind: punch is a forgotten art that has a bad name now due to church socials and the like. It doesn't have to be like that! People gathering around the bowl can serve themselves their own drink and it's a very social atmosphere when people gather 'round the bowl (also check out David Wondrich's excellent book "Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl" for some good recipes). Before the cocktail, this os how people spent their evenings when drinking and socializing.

For other punch recipes check out Beachbum Berry Remixed. Cinerama Luau Punch, Blood of the Kapu Tiki, and Trader Vic Punch would all scale up.

Once your guests have settled and have a glass of punch (or your pre-mixed big batch of Mai Tais) you can go about mixing individual cocktails for those who want them while still being social.

Good luck!

kevin

Here is a thread where it has been discussed...

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=43941&forum=10&10

Hale Tiki had a good recipe for Rum Punch.

I like to premix a few popular drinks like Mai Tais and Zombies, as well as make a bowl of Rum Punch to put out. You never know how backed up you might get taking personal orders. I also tend to make two of an ordered drink and find someone to drink the second.

For me, making a big batch of tiki cocktails depends on one thing: am I making them for regular people, or tiki snobs like us? :)

For non-tiki fanantics, I've had good success with Navy Grog and Mai Tai, but I simplify them. For instance, for the Navy Grog I used Kraken and Myers rums, and no pimento dram (leaving Kraken to "spice" it up).

The Chi Chi is a really easy cocktail to whip up (a bottle of pineapple/coconut juice and vodka, garnished with cherry as well as a lime wedge to squeeze). Brought a gallon that to a party once and it was gone in an hour.

And if you have a lot of ladies at the party, they love a Blue Hawaiian.

We have decent sized gatherings on a regular basis at our home bar/lounge and I've started developing a system (after learning the harsh lesson of not being prepared).

First I pre-squeeze enough lemons and limes to make it through the night.

Second I make a triple serving of the Blood of the Kapu Tiki from Remixed . It's simple to whip up and packs quite a punch.

As the punch is being drank I'll start mixing doubles of Painkillers and Trader Vic Grogs, these seem to go over well with everyone so it's never hard to find someone to take the second drink.

Once the party has settled and found it's groove I can take individual orders here and there from friends who are a little more tuned in and have special requests.

Bartending all night can sometimes defeat the purpose of having friends over so it's great to be prepared. But it's always great to see our friends tune in and feel the spirit of Mahalo. That's what it's all about.

Mai Tai
Painkiller
Zombie
Piña Colada

I'm about to batch 40 of each, while making them fresh. (Partially batched ingredients.)

I can explain how if you'd like. It's a matter of mixing up the right ingredients ahead of time, while leaving some things to be done fresh.

I like to make stations where guests can mix their own drinks. I'll write down 5 or so "easy" recipes with individual measuring cups, shakers, and the appropriate ingredients. It seems to work fine for parties as big as 30, but your party might be a bit too big for this.

Starting out with a punch bowl is a great help. I also usually have at least one of the drinks on the night's menu be a blender drink. Making things a blender at a time will help with that initial crush of drink requests.

On 2013-07-13 12:30, arriano wrote:

For instance, for the Navy Grog I used Kraken and Myers rums, and no pimento dram (leaving Kraken to "spice" it up).

I might have to give this a go.

On 2013-07-14 18:59, Hale Tiki wrote:
Mai Tai
Painkiller
Zombie
Piña Colada

I'm about to batch 40 of each, while making them fresh. (Partially batched ingredients.)

I can explain how if you'd like. It's a matter of mixing up the right ingredients ahead of time, while leaving some things to be done fresh.

Hale Tiki - I'd love to hear your system for pre mixing these when you have time to write it down here. Sounds like a great idea and adds more variety than relying solely on a punch for large groups.

On 2013-07-15 12:37, SoCal Savage wrote:
Hale Tiki - I'd love to hear your system for pre mixing these when you have time to write it down here. Sounds like a great idea and adds more variety than relying solely on a punch for large groups.

I'll let you know on Sunday how it goes for those 4 drinks. Been awhile in the planning, so we'll see how it works in practice.

On 2013-07-15 13:16, Hale Tiki wrote:

On 2013-07-15 12:37, SoCal Savage wrote:
Hale Tiki - I'd love to hear your system for pre mixing these when you have time to write it down here. Sounds like a great idea and adds more variety than relying solely on a punch for large groups.

I'll let you know on Sunday how it goes for those 4 drinks. Been awhile in the planning, so we'll see how it works in practice.

How did it work out?

It went as well as it could have.
I underestimated the amount of demerara sugar I'd need for syrups, but other than that, I was able to get everything mixed, including making all the syrups, in about 5.5-6 hours.
More info to follow.

Yesssssss......

On 2013-07-22 13:23, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Yesssssss......

I wonder where that fish has gone. You did love it so. You looked after it like a son. And it went wherever I did go.

thanks all for the suggestions! we ended up batching out 5 gal. ea. of mai tai's, painkillers, navy grog, and our own rum punch. all but a quart or two of navy grog & punch was consumed with great pleasure and compliments. damn that was a lot of limes to squeeze...

thanks again for the input!

So, 20 gallons in all? That must have been some party!

My hat is off to you, sir, for serving some very tasty cocktails at such a large shindig.

Holy crap! 20 gallons? That is very impressive, I must say.
Well done... Very well done!

Where are the pics?? :)

this was sort of an impromptu event we hosted at our bar. our friends put on a "mods vs. rockers" vintage motorcycle & scooter event, and hit us up to host the friday and saturday evening events. this was the only thing keeping us from going to the "hot rod hula hoop" event in columbus, which unfortunately fell on the same weekend. as of thursday night, we were still knee deep in construction dust and 2 x 4's, but with the help of some very generous friends we were able to get everything cleaned up online by friday evening. it was nuts.

as expected, 15-20 bikes would roll in from a ride at any given time, and we aren't quite prepared yet to start crafting each and every drink to spec. everything worked out well, and revues were great. now it's time to get back to the grind and get these doors open proper!

thanks again for all the input!

[ Edited by: porco 2013-08-12 13:11 ]