Cocktail for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Folklore has it that back in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his cricket team would win over a touring English team. To gain the upper hand, he organized a splendid party the night before the match, at which he served his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are incredibly generous four-finger measure whisky pours, historically gauged from little finger to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, inevitably, beaten the day after. Thus, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This inspired variation of old fashioned takes its cue from that original drink. In our establishment, we serve it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've modified the instructions to make it more suitable for a home setting.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, enough for 10-12 people.
You Will Need
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Combine everything in a large bottle. Pour in 130g water, agitate until fully incorporated, then transfer it in the fridge. You can store it for about a few weeks.
When ready to drink, pour roughly 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a rocks glass filled with ice (traditionally one big block). Drink promptly. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.