Cocktail culture revolutionised: pre-batching is now widespread in Hong Kong’s top bars, but do mixes made in advance really taste as good?
- At Bar Leone, top of the list in Asia’s 50 Best Bars, pre-batching is crucial to maintain service quality and speed
- Pre-mixing ingredients in bulk allows bars to be more efficient and consistent, but intricate factors also come into play to ensure quality
Hong Kong’s bar scene has never been better. The city’s best cocktail bars regularly crowd the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list, their popularity begetting packed weekend nights and long queues for entry. Part of the thrill the best bars promise is the spectacular sight of watching your cocktail being prepared, a blend of ingredients laid before your eyes, then subjected to your mixologist’s craftsmanship, skill and speed.
However, making a single drink from scratch, whilst impressive, is time intensive, while hastily cobbling something together promises a disappointing drink.
So how can bars maximise their service without sacrificing quality? What if a bar eschewed theatre for efficiency and consistency? What if cocktails – or certain parts of the recipe – were made in advance?
Some guests may be unfamiliar with or even dislike the idea of pre-batching.
“It was traditionally seen as less desirable in cocktail making because it was associated with mass production, lower quality and lack of craftsmanship,” explains Penicillin founder Agung Prabowo.
But perceptions appear to be shifting. Prabowo adds that guests in Hong Kong appreciate the speed and efficiency of pre-batched cocktails in high volume environments. For Penicillin’s closed-loop concept, pre-batching is almost essential as it prepares 75 per cent of its menu in advance of opening.
“Pre-batching offers several sustainability benefits,”
