Drink for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – Recipe
Folklore claims that during 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his cricket team would triumph over a visiting English side. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a splendid party on the eve of the match, at which he served his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are notoriously large four-finger measure whisky pours, traditionally poured from little finger to forefinger. Unsurprisingly, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being terribly the worse for wear and, consequently, vanquished the following day. In this way, the myth of the Patiala peg came to be.
This inspired spin on the Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by Singh's concoction. Here, we serve it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the instructions to make it more suitable for a household environment.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Makes 1 litre, serving 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Preparation
Place everything in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, stir to combine, then put it in the fridge. It will now keep for up to a few weeks.
To serve, pour roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a short glass packed with ice (ideally one large cube). Serve immediately. If you're feeling traditional, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.
