Cocktail of the Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It
Folklore claims that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his cricket team would succeed over a touring English team. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a grand party the night before the match, at which he offered his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These were famously large four-finger whisky pours, historically poured from pinky to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, inevitably, defeated the day after. Thus, the story of the Patiala peg was born.
This inspired spin on the old fashioned draws inspiration from the Maharaja's concoction. At the restaurant, we serve it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we've adapted the instructions to make it better suited for a household setting.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, enough for 10-12 people.
You Will Need
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Put everything in a big container. Add 130g water, agitate thoroughly, then put it in the refrigerator. It will now keep for as long as 21 days.
When ready to drink, measure out roughly 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a rocks glass packed with ice (preferably one large cube). Drink immediately. To honour tradition, you could measure it in by hand as they did.
