Cocktail This Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It
Legend suggests that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his team would succeed over a visiting English team. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a splendid party on the eve of the match, at which he presented his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These are incredibly generous four-finger whisky pours, customarily measured from pinky to forefinger. Predictably, the English players drank too much, leaving them very the worse for wear and, inevitably, beaten the following day. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi variation of Old Fashioned cocktail takes its cue from that original drink. Here, we present it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've adjusted the formula to make it easier for a home kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 people.
What's Required
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Put everything in a large bottle. Add 130g water, mix to combine, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for as long as 21 days.
To serve, dispense about 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass containing ice (ideally one big block). Drink straight away. If you're feeling traditional, you could pour it using your fingers for authenticity.
