Cocktail This Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It
Tale claims that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his team would succeed over a touring English team. To secure an advantage, he hosted a lavish party on the eve of the match, at which he served his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These were notoriously generous four-finger measure whisky servings, traditionally gauged from little finger to forefinger. As expected, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being terribly hungover and, consequently, defeated the next day. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This take on a variation of Old Fashioned cocktail takes its cue from Singh's concoction. In our establishment, we serve it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've modified the formula to make it better suited for a household environment.
Patiala Peg
Produces 1 litre, enough for 10-12 drinks.
You Will Need
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Method
Put everything in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, mix until fully incorporated, then put it in the fridge. It will now keep for about 21 days.
To serve, dispense roughly 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a short glass packed with ice (preferably one big block). Drink promptly. To honour tradition, you could measure it in by hand instead.
