Cocktail for This Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Folklore has it that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his team would succeed over a touring English side. To secure an advantage, he organized a lavish party on the eve of the match, where he presented his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were famously large four-finger whisky pours, historically measured from little finger to index finger. Predictably, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being extremely the worse for wear and, inevitably, beaten the next day. Thus, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.
This take on a spin on the old fashioned draws inspiration from Singh's drink. Here, we present it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've modified the instructions to make it better suited for a home kitchen.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Place all the ingredients in a large bottle. Include 130g water, mix to combine, then place it in the fridge. It can be stored for up to a few weeks.
For serving, measure out roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a short glass containing ice (traditionally one big block). Drink promptly. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers for authenticity.
