Cocktail of the Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It
Legend has it that back in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his team would win over a visiting English team. To gain the upper hand, he organized a lavish party the night before the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were famously generous four-finger whisky servings, traditionally poured from little finger to index finger. Predictably, the English players drank too much, leaving them very the worse for wear and, inevitably, defeated the following day. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi spin on the Old Fashioned cocktail takes its cue from the Maharaja's drink. Here, we serve it from a specially crafted large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the instructions to make it easier for a domestic environment.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Produces 1 litre, enough for 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Instructions
Place all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Add 130g water, mix to combine, then transfer it in the fridge. It will now keep for up to a few weeks.
To serve, measure out approximately 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a short glass filled with ice (traditionally one big block). Drink immediately. To honour tradition, you could use the four-finger measure as they did.
