Water is the ingredient every cocktail recipe leaves out. Enter your ingredients with their volumes and ABVs — or load a Manhattan, Negroni, Martini, Old Fashioned, Daiquiri, or Margarita — pick stirred or shaken, and see what actually ends up in the glass: the final volume, the alcohol by volume, the pure alcohol, and the number of US standard drinks. Batch mode scales the recipe for a party and tells you exactly how much water to add so a bottled, chilled cocktail pours like one made to order.
Hosting? The tip calculator splits the bartender’s tip, the unit converter handles ounces and milliliters for any other recipe, and the percentage calculator is there for any other ratio math. Batching drinks for a wedding? The wedding seating chart sorts out who sits where. And for the morning after, the coffee ratio calculator scales a brew the same way, with the reasoning in coffee-to-water ratios by brew method.
Frequently asked questions
How much does ice dilute a cocktail?
More than most people think — dilution is part of the recipe, not an accident. Common bartending rules of thumb put a stirred drink at about 20 to 25% added water and a shaken one at about 25 to 40%; Dave Arnold's careful measurements in Liquid Intelligence run higher, roughly 40 to 45% for a spirit-forward drink stirred until very cold and 50 to 60% for a hard shake. A 3 oz Negroni stirred to 25% dilution picks up about ¾ oz of water and drops from about 27% ABV to about 21%. The exact number depends on your ice, how long you mix, and how warm the ingredients start.
How much water do I add to a batched cocktail?
When you batch stirred drinks ahead of time and serve them straight from the fridge or freezer, nobody stirs them with ice, so you add the melt water yourself. Multiply the total volume of the undiluted batch by your dilution percentage: a 1,080 ml batch of Negronis at 22.5% needs about 243 ml of water. Turn on batch mode, enter the number of drinks, and the calculator gives the water, the total volume, and how many bottles to fill.
How do I calculate a cocktail's ABV?
Add up the pure alcohol in each ingredient (its volume times its ABV), then divide by the total volume of the finished drink, including the melt water. For example, 1 oz each of 40% gin, 24% Campari, and 16% vermouth contains 0.8 oz of pure alcohol in 3 oz, or about 26.7% ABV before ice. After 25% dilution the same alcohol sits in 3.75 oz, so the drink is about 21.3% ABV. The calculator does this arithmetic for every row you enter, including juice and syrup at 0%.
What is a US standard drink?
In the United States a standard drink contains 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is about 0.6 fluid ounces or 17.7 ml. That is roughly a 12 oz beer at 5%, a 5 oz glass of wine at 12%, or 1.5 oz of 40% spirits. Many classic cocktails contain more than one standard drink — a Manhattan or Martini is often close to two — which the calculator shows alongside the final ABV. Knowing the count helps you pace a party and plan rides home.
Should I batch shaken drinks with citrus?
You can, but plan around the juice. Fresh lime and lemon juice change flavor within hours, so batch citrus drinks on the day you serve them and keep them cold. Many bartenders batch everything except the juice and ice, then shake to order, which gives shaken drinks their texture and foam. Stirred, spirit-only drinks such as the Manhattan, Negroni, and Martini are the easiest to batch fully diluted and store in the freezer. Their high alcohol content keeps them from freezing solid.