Bourbon Sours for a crowd

[Septemberdog61]

Hi all. I need some help for Super Bowl. I would like to make pitchers of bourbon sours, but I'm not sure how to go about this. Do I make individual drinks and pour them into a large pitcher? Ice? No ice? Any ideas would be helpful. Thank you.

[mkayahara]

There's a couple of threads around here on batching and/or bottling cocktails: this one would be a good place to start.

[Hassouni]

Don't pour individual drinks into a pitcher, just pour directly into the pitcher and then refrigerate the pitcher. For a bourbon sour, if you plan on serving up, make sure to add about 20% water to the pitcher

[weinoo]

Since it's generally a shaken drink, you could batch it all up and then just shake to order.

[KD1191]

I batched a Harlan County for a party awhile back. It wasn't rife with cocktail aficionados, so sweetness wasn't an issue.

For 8 servings, I combined the following in a 1L bottle:

16 oz Buffalo Trace
6 oz Lime Juice
6 oz Marie Brizard Apry
3 oz Simple

I'd pour 4 oz of the mix & shake with ice to order, strain and add a dash of Angostura.

If you want to avoid shaking, put the mix in the freezer until game time. Then, pour into a chilled pitcher with 6 oz of water, stir and serve over large ice cubes.

[haresfur]

I wouldn't squeeze the lemon or lime any more than an hour before you start to serve.

[Hassouni]

Yeah, that too

[KD1191]

I wouldn't squeeze the lemon or lime any more than an hour before you start to serve.

Combined with alcohol, bottled, and refrigerated, there should be no noticeable effect on the citrus over the course of a few hours. Though, I wouldn't put it together the day before.

[Lisa Shock]

If you have time, you might want to look into making a punch with similar ingredients. It will hold longer, I think. And, components of it can be made in advance.

[haresfur]

I wouldn't squeeze the lemon or lime any more than an hour before you start to serve.

Combined with alcohol, bottled, and refrigerated, there should be no noticeable effect on the citrus over the course of a few hours. Though, I wouldn't put it together the day before.

I was being a bit conservative and assuming that it might be served over a few hours.