Cocktail for This Week: The Patiala Peg – Recipe
Tale has it that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his cricket team would win over a visiting English team. To secure an advantage, he hosted a splendid party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These are famously substantial four-finger measure whisky servings, historically poured from little finger to forefinger. As expected, the English players overindulged, leaving them very hungover and, inevitably, defeated the next day. Thus, the legend of the Patiala peg was born.
This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned takes its cue from that original beverage. Here, we present it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we've modified the formula to make it easier for a household environment.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Method
Combine everything in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, mix to combine, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for up to a few weeks.
To serve, measure out about 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a rocks glass filled with ice (preferably one large cube). Serve straight away. If you're feeling traditional, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.
