Drink for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Tale claims that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his team would triumph over a touring English side. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a grand party the night before the match, where he served his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are famously generous four-finger measure whisky servings, customarily poured from little finger to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players partook excessively, leaving them terribly the worse for wear and, consequently, vanquished the next day. Thus, the myth of the Patiala peg was born.
This Punjabi kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by that original concoction. Here, we offer it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the recipe to make it more suitable for a household kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Method
Place all the ingredients in a large bottle. Include 130g water, mix until fully incorporated, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for up to 21 days.
To serve, measure out roughly 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a short glass containing ice (ideally one large cube). Serve straight away. If you're feeling traditional, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.
