Cocktail for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Folklore claims that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his cricket team would win over a touring English side. To secure an advantage, he organized a splendid party on the eve of the match, where he presented his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These were famously substantial four-finger measure whisky servings, traditionally poured from pinky to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, consequently, defeated the day after. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg was born.
This Punjabi kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by the Maharaja's drink. Here, we offer it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the formula to make it more suitable for a household kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Instructions
Put all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, stir thoroughly, then place it in the fridge. It can be stored for as long as a few weeks.
To serve, dispense roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a old fashioned glass packed with ice (traditionally one big block). Serve promptly. To honour tradition, you could measure it in by hand instead.
