Drink for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Legend claims that in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was set that his cricket team would succeed over a visiting English team. For a competitive edge, he organized a splendid party the night before the match, where he served his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These were famously generous four-finger whisky pours, traditionally gauged from pinky to index finger. As expected, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, inevitably, beaten the following day. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg was born.
This Punjabi variation of Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by the Maharaja's drink. Here, we serve it from a specially crafted large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the recipe to make it easier for a home setting.
Patiala Peg
Produces 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Method
Put everything in a large bottle. Pour in 130g water, agitate until fully incorporated, then place it in the fridge. It can be stored for about three weeks.
To serve, measure out approximately 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass filled with ice (ideally one big block). Serve promptly. For a traditional touch, you could use the four-finger measure as they did.
