Drink for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Folklore suggests that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his cricket team would win over a visiting English squad. For a competitive edge, he organized a grand party the night before the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These are famously substantial four-finger measure whisky servings, customarily gauged from little finger to forefinger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being extremely hungover and, inevitably, beaten the day after. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This take on a kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail draws inspiration from Singh's drink. At the restaurant, we present it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've adjusted the formula to make it better suited for a household setting.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Instructions
Put all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, stir until fully incorporated, then place it in the fridge. It will now keep for about a few weeks.
To serve, dispense about 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass filled with ice (preferably one big block). Enjoy promptly. To honour tradition, you could measure it in by hand instead.
