Drink of the Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Folklore claims that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his team would win over a visiting English side. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a splendid party the night before the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These are incredibly generous four-finger whisky servings, customarily gauged from little finger to index finger. As expected, the English players partook excessively, leaving them very the worse for wear and, inevitably, vanquished the next day. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi spin on the Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by the Maharaja's concoction. At the restaurant, we serve it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we've adjusted the recipe to make it better suited for a domestic kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 people.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Instructions
Put everything in a big container. Include 130g water, mix thoroughly, then transfer it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for up to 21 days.
To serve, pour roughly 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a short glass containing ice (preferably one large cube). Enjoy straight away. For a traditional touch, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
