Drink for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It
Folklore claims that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his team would win over a touring English side. For a competitive edge, he threw a splendid party the night before the match, where he served his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are incredibly large four-finger whisky servings, traditionally measured from little finger to index finger. As expected, the English players overindulged, leaving them very hungover and, inevitably, beaten the next day. Thus, the myth of the Patiala peg was born.
This Punjabi kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by Singh's concoction. In our establishment, we serve it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've modified the instructions to make it more suitable for a domestic environment.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, enough for 10-12 people.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Method
Put all the ingredients in a large bottle. Add 130g water, agitate to combine, then put it in the fridge. You can store it for up to a few weeks.
To serve, pour about 90ml of the infused whisky into a short glass packed with ice (preferably one big block). Serve straight away. To honour tradition, you could measure it in by hand instead.
