Drink This Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Folklore suggests that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his cricket team would triumph over a touring English side. To secure an advantage, he threw a grand party the night before the match, at which he served his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These were notoriously generous four-finger measure whisky servings, historically measured from pinky to forefinger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being terribly hungover and, inevitably, vanquished the next day. In this way, the myth of the Patiala peg was born.
This take on a spin on the old fashioned draws inspiration from the Maharaja's beverage. At the restaurant, we serve it from a bespoke large-format bottle, but we've modified the instructions to make it better suited for a home kitchen.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 people.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Instructions
Place all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, stir to combine, then transfer it in the refrigerator. It will now keep for about a few weeks.
For serving, measure out about 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass packed with ice (traditionally one large cube). Drink promptly. If you're feeling traditional, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.
