Cocktail for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Folklore suggests that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his cricket team would triumph over a visiting English team. To gain the upper hand, he organized a grand party on the eve of the match, at which he served his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These were incredibly large four-finger measure whisky pours, traditionally poured from little finger to forefinger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, inevitably, beaten the following day. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg was born.
This Punjabi spin on the Old Fashioned cocktail draws inspiration from the Maharaja's drink. In our establishment, we serve it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've adjusted the formula to make it more suitable for a household setting.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
What's Required
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Preparation
Put all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, agitate until fully incorporated, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for up to 21 days.
For serving, dispense roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass packed with ice (ideally one big block). Serve straight away. If you're feeling traditional, you could measure it in by hand as they did.
