I’m currently trying to find a good mixed drink that works well batched. I like drinking outside on summer evenings and getting up several times to make a new cocktail from scratch doesn’t really fit with the “sit outside and relax” thing for me. The difficulty for me is that I often just don’t like drinking more than one of a particular cocktail, either because it’s too intense in some way or because I get bored of it. And some cocktails just don’t batch well or are a little too involved for what I’m going for (e.g. hard-require shaking or elaborate garnishes).
I’m going to try a batch of Jungle Bird today - it’s better shaken, but it’s still good just poured on ice with a little sparkling water for dilution. Remains to be seen whether I’ll want a second and third one.
Sometimes I also enjoy a mix of whisky, Lillet blanc and a little still water (1 part whisky to 3 parts Lillet), it’s easy-drinking but doesn’t get too boring. The spirit + fortified wine thing seems like a great option, but I haven’t found a mix that I’m really into right now.
While it’d be somewhat difficult to batch, when I want to do something similar I usually go with a simple Gin & Tonic.
Specifically:
2 oz. Empress 1908 Gin poured into a an 8 oz glass over ice, top the glass up with fever tree Mediterranean tonic (can also use regular tonic, but that can be a bit more bitter, fever tree also has an elder flower tonic that is pretty good, but is a bit too sweet for my tastes when paired with Empress), then add a splash of lime juice (ideally fresh squeezed, but the bottled stuff is easier and also works).
It tastes great and it looks pretty cool in the glass since the Empress 1908 gin starts out a dark blueish-purple color but becomes a much lighter purple when you add the tonic and citrus.