Cocktail for This Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It
Legend claims that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his team would win over a touring English squad. To gain the upper hand, he organized a splendid party on the eve of the match, where he offered his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These were incredibly generous four-finger measure whisky servings, customarily gauged from little finger to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players partook excessively, leaving them terribly hungover and, inevitably, beaten the day after. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi variation of Old Fashioned cocktail draws inspiration from the Maharaja's beverage. Here, we serve it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've adapted the recipe to make it better suited for a home setting.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 people.
You Will Need
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Preparation
Combine all the ingredients in a large bottle. Pour in 130g water, agitate thoroughly, then put it in the fridge. You can store it for as long as a few weeks.
For serving, dispense approximately 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass packed with ice (preferably one large cube). Drink straight away. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.
