Cocktail for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – Recipe
Tale has it that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his cricket team would succeed over a visiting English side. To secure an advantage, he hosted a lavish party on the eve of the match, where he presented his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are incredibly large four-finger whisky servings, historically poured from pinky to index finger. Predictably, the English players drank too much, leaving them extremely the worse for wear and, consequently, beaten the following day. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This inspired kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail draws inspiration from the Maharaja's beverage. In our establishment, we serve it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've adjusted the instructions to make it more suitable for a household setting.
Patiala Peg
Produces 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Preparation
Place everything in a sizeable jug. Include 130g water, stir to combine, then put it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for about three weeks.
For serving, measure out approximately 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a rocks glass packed with ice (traditionally one big block). Enjoy immediately. To honour tradition, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
