Drink This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It
Tale claims that back in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his team would win over a visiting English squad. To gain the upper hand, he organized a splendid party the night before the match, where he presented his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are incredibly generous four-finger measure whisky pours, traditionally measured from pinky to index finger. Predictably, the English players drank too much, leaving them terribly hungover and, inevitably, defeated the day after. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned draws inspiration from that original drink. At the restaurant, we present it from a specially crafted large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the instructions to make it more suitable for a domestic setting.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Makes 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
You Will Need
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 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, agitate to combine, then transfer it in the refrigerator. It will now keep for up to a few weeks.
For serving, measure out roughly 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a rocks glass packed with ice (traditionally one large cube). Enjoy straight away. For a traditional touch, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
