Cocktail of the Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Tale has it that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his cricket team would succeed over a touring English side. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a grand party on the eve of the match, where he presented his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are notoriously substantial four-finger whisky servings, customarily measured from little finger to index finger. Predictably, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being terribly the worse for wear and, consequently, vanquished the following day. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This inspired kind-of old fashioned draws inspiration from Singh's drink. At the restaurant, we present it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've adapted the recipe to make it better suited for a domestic kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
What's Required
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Method
Place everything in a sizeable jug. Include 130g water, stir thoroughly, then put it in the fridge. You can store it for as long as three weeks.
To serve, measure out about 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a short glass packed with ice (traditionally one big block). Drink immediately. If you're feeling traditional, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
