Drink of the Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It
Legend suggests that in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was adamant that his team would triumph over a visiting English team. To secure an advantage, he organized a splendid party the night before the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were notoriously substantial four-finger measure whisky servings, historically measured from little finger to forefinger. Predictably, the English players drank too much, leaving them extremely the worse for wear and, inevitably, beaten the day after. Thus, the legend of the Patiala peg originated.
This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned draws inspiration from Singh's beverage. In our establishment, we serve it from a bespoke large-format bottle, but we've modified the instructions to make it better suited for a domestic environment.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Put all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Add 130g water, mix thoroughly, then place it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for about a few weeks.
For serving, dispense roughly 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a old fashioned glass filled with ice (ideally one large cube). Drink straight away. For a traditional touch, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
