Drink for This Week: The Patiala Peg – Recipe
Legend has it that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his team would win over a touring English team. To gain the upper hand, he threw a grand party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were famously substantial four-finger whisky pours, historically gauged from little finger to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being terribly hungover and, inevitably, defeated the day after. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg originated.
This take on a kind-of old fashioned draws inspiration from the Maharaja's drink. In our establishment, we present it from a bespoke large-format bottle, but we've adapted the formula to make it more suitable for a domestic setting.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Makes 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Method
Put everything in a big container. Add 130g water, agitate to combine, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for about 21 days.
When ready to drink, measure out roughly 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a old fashioned glass packed with ice (ideally one big block). Enjoy straight away. To honour tradition, you could use the four-finger measure as they did.
