Cocktail This Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Folklore claims that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his team would succeed over a visiting English team. To secure an advantage, he hosted a lavish party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were notoriously large four-finger measure whisky servings, historically measured from pinky to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being extremely the worse for wear and, inevitably, defeated the day after. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg originated.
This inspired spin on the old fashioned draws inspiration from Singh's beverage. Here, we present it from a bespoke large-format bottle, but we've adapted the recipe to make it more suitable for a domestic kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Produces 1 litre, serving 10-12 people.
What's Required
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Instructions
Place all the ingredients in a large bottle. Include 130g water, mix until fully incorporated, then put it in the refrigerator. It will now keep for as long as three weeks.
When ready to drink, pour about 90ml of the infused whisky into a short glass containing ice (ideally one large cube). Serve immediately. To honour tradition, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
