Drink This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Tale suggests that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his cricket team would win over a visiting English squad. To gain the upper hand, he threw a splendid party on the eve of the match, at which he presented his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These were famously generous four-finger whisky pours, traditionally gauged from little finger to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players overindulged, leaving them extremely hungover and, consequently, vanquished the next day. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned takes its cue from Singh's beverage. In our establishment, we present it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the instructions to make it better suited for a home kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Preparation
Put all the ingredients in a large bottle. Add 130g water, mix thoroughly, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for up to three weeks.
For serving, pour about 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a old fashioned glass containing ice (ideally one big block). Enjoy straight away. If you're feeling traditional, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
