Cocktail of the Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Tale has it that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his team would succeed over a touring English squad. To gain the upper hand, he threw a splendid party the night before the match, where he presented his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were famously large four-finger whisky pours, customarily measured from little finger to forefinger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, leaving them terribly the worse for wear and, inevitably, defeated the next day. And so, the story of the Patiala peg was born.
This take on a kind-of old fashioned is inspired by that original drink. Here, we present it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the formula to make it better suited for a home kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Produces 1 litre, to serve 10-12 people.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Place all the ingredients in a big container. Add 130g water, agitate thoroughly, then transfer it in the fridge. You can store it for as long as a few weeks.
For serving, measure out roughly 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a rocks glass containing ice (traditionally one big block). Enjoy promptly. For a traditional touch, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.