Cocktail for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – Recipe
Tale claims that back in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his cricket team would succeed over a touring English side. To secure an advantage, he organized a lavish party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These were notoriously generous four-finger whisky servings, traditionally measured from little finger to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being extremely hungover and, consequently, vanquished the day after. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg was born.
This take on a kind-of old fashioned is inspired by the Maharaja's drink. In our establishment, we present it from a bespoke large-format bottle, but we've adapted the formula to make it better suited for a household setting.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
You Will Need
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Preparation
Place everything in a sizeable jug. Add 130g water, stir to combine, then put it in the fridge. It can be stored for as long as three weeks.
When ready to drink, pour about 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a short glass packed with ice (ideally one large cube). Enjoy immediately. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.