Cocktail This Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Folklore suggests that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his team would succeed over a visiting English squad. To gain the upper hand, he organized a splendid party the night before the match, where he presented his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are notoriously substantial four-finger measure whisky pours, traditionally measured from little finger to index finger. As expected, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being terribly hungover and, consequently, vanquished the next day. And so, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.
This take on a variation of Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by the Maharaja's drink. At the restaurant, we serve it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've adjusted the formula to make it better suited for a domestic environment.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, enough for 10-12 people.
What's Required
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 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
Instructions
Combine everything in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, agitate thoroughly, then place it in the fridge. It can be stored for up to a few weeks.
To serve, measure out approximately 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass containing ice (traditionally one large cube). Serve straight away. To honour tradition, you could measure it in by hand instead.
