Calculators
Dilution & batching calculator
Pick a cocktail, choose a batch size, and get total spirit/modifier volumes plus a recommended water addition for pre-batching ahead of a party.
Search for and pick a cocktail to plan a pre-batched version.
How this works
Shaking or stirring a cocktail does two jobs: it chills the drink, and it adds water. The water is not a side effect — a Martini stirred to the right temperature is roughly a quarter water by volume, and without it the drink is harsh and too strong. Batch a recipe ahead of time and you skip the ice entirely, so you have to put that water back by hand. This works out how much.
Why a batch tastes wrong without added water
A drink built over ice arrives at the glass already diluted. Batch the same recipe into a bottle, chill it in the fridge and pour it neat, and you are serving something noticeably stronger and sharper than the recipe intends — the same ingredients in the wrong proportions, because one of the ingredients is missing.
Adding the water in advance also means the drink is ready to pour. That is the real reason bars batch: not to save ingredients, but to serve a properly-made drink in five seconds.
How much water each method adds
Stirred drinks pick up roughly 20 to 25 per cent of their volume in water — a Martini or a Manhattan, stirred until properly cold. Shaken drinks pick up more, around 25 to 30 per cent, because the ice is broken up and the surface area is far greater.
Built drinks that sit on ice in the glass are not batched the same way. They keep diluting while you drink them, so batch the mix and let the ice in the glass do its work.
Getting it cold enough
Dilution and temperature are the same problem. A batch straight from the fridge is around 4°C; a properly stirred drink is closer to -3°C. Give the bottle a few hours in the freezer — at 20 per cent water it will not freeze solid — or pour over a single large cube and accept a little more dilution.
A worked example: twelve Negronis
- One Negroni is 30ml gin, 30ml Campari, 30ml sweet vermouth — 90ml before ice.
- Twelve servings: 360ml gin, 360ml Campari, 360ml sweet vermouth = 1,080ml.
- Negronis are stirred, so add about 22 per cent water: 1,080 × 0.22 ≈ 240ml.
- Final batch: 1,320ml, or eleven 120ml servings once you allow for what stays in the bottle.
- Chill it hard and pour over one large cube, which adds a little more as you drink.
What it does not account for
- How long you actually stir or shake, which varies more between people than any other step.
- Ice temperature and size — freezer ice straight from a tray is colder and dilutes less than ice that has been sitting out.
- Anything carbonated. Soda, tonic and sparkling wine go in at the moment of serving, never into the batch.
- Fresh citrus, which starts losing its edge within a few hours and is best added on the day.