Cocktail of the Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Legend claims that during 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was set that his team would triumph over a visiting English team. To gain the upper hand, he organized a splendid party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are incredibly generous four-finger measure whisky pours, traditionally gauged from little finger to index finger. As expected, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being terribly the worse for wear and, inevitably, vanquished the next day. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg originated.
This inspired spin on the old fashioned takes its cue from Singh's beverage. Here, we serve it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we've modified the recipe to make it easier for a home kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Place everything in a large bottle. Pour in 130g water, mix thoroughly, then transfer it in the refrigerator. You can store it for as long as a few weeks.
When ready to drink, measure out approximately 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a short glass containing ice (ideally one large cube). Serve immediately. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.
