Cocktail for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Folklore claims that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his cricket team would win over a visiting English squad. For a competitive edge, he hosted a lavish party the night before the match, where he offered his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are notoriously generous four-finger whisky pours, traditionally poured from pinky to index finger. Predictably, the English players drank too much, leaving them very the worse for wear and, consequently, defeated the next day. And so, the myth of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi spin on the Old Fashioned cocktail draws inspiration from the Maharaja's concoction. Here, we offer it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've modified the instructions to make it better suited for a household setting.
Patiala Peg
Produces 1 litre, enough for 10-12 people.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Place all the ingredients in a large bottle. Add 130g water, stir until fully incorporated, then put it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for about 21 days.
To serve, measure out approximately 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a rocks glass containing ice (traditionally one large cube). Enjoy immediately. For a traditional touch, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.