Cocktail of the Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – Recipe
Tale suggests that back in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his cricket team would succeed over a touring English side. To gain the upper hand, he organized a grand party on the eve of the match, where he served his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were incredibly substantial four-finger whisky servings, traditionally measured from little finger to forefinger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, inevitably, defeated the following day. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned takes its cue from that original concoction. Here, we present it from a bespoke large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the instructions to make it easier for a home setting.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, enough for 10-12 portions.
What's Required
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Preparation
Put everything in a large bottle. Add 130g water, stir thoroughly, then transfer it in the fridge. It will now keep for as long as three weeks.
To serve, measure out about 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a old fashioned glass containing ice (ideally one large cube). Serve promptly. If you're feeling traditional, you could use the four-finger measure as they did.
