Drink for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Legend suggests that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his team would succeed over a touring English side. To secure an advantage, he hosted a splendid party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These were incredibly generous four-finger measure whisky pours, traditionally gauged from little finger to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players overindulged, leaving them very the worse for wear and, inevitably, defeated the following day. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg originated.
This Punjabi variation of Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by that original concoction. In our establishment, we present it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we've modified the recipe to make it more suitable for a home kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, enough for 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Instructions
Put all the ingredients in a big container. Pour in 130g water, agitate to combine, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for as long as a few weeks.
When ready to drink, measure out approximately 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass filled with ice (ideally one large cube). Serve immediately. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.