Cocktail for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Tale claims that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his team would win over a touring English side. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a splendid party the night before the match, at which he offered his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are famously generous four-finger whisky pours, traditionally poured from little finger to forefinger. Predictably, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being extremely hungover and, inevitably, beaten the day after. Thus, the story of the Patiala peg was born.
This Punjabi variation of Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by Singh's concoction. At the restaurant, we present it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've adapted the formula to make it better suited for a household setting.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, to serve 10-12 people.
You Will Need
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Put all the ingredients in a big container. Include 130g water, agitate until fully incorporated, then put it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for about three weeks.
To serve, measure out roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a short glass packed with ice (traditionally one large cube). Enjoy immediately. To honour tradition, you could use the four-finger measure as they did.
