Cocktail This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Legend suggests that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his cricket team would win over a visiting English team. To gain the upper hand, he threw a grand party the night before the match, at which he presented his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were famously generous four-finger whisky pours, traditionally measured from pinky to forefinger. Predictably, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being extremely hungover and, inevitably, vanquished the day after. And so, the myth of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi spin on the old fashioned draws inspiration from the Maharaja's drink. At the restaurant, we offer it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've adapted the recipe to make it more suitable for a domestic kitchen.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Makes 1 litre, serving 10-12 drinks.
You Will Need
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Method
Place all the ingredients in a big container. Include 130g water, mix thoroughly, then place it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for about 21 days.
To serve, pour roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass packed with ice (preferably one large cube). Drink promptly. To honour tradition, you could measure it in by hand as they did.
