Drink for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Tale suggests that in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was adamant that his team would succeed over a touring English side. For a competitive edge, he organized a splendid party on the eve of the match, at which he served his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These were notoriously large four-finger measure whisky servings, traditionally gauged from pinky to forefinger. Predictably, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being extremely the worse for wear and, consequently, vanquished the following day. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg was born.
This inspired spin on the old fashioned is inspired by that original concoction. Here, we present it from a specially crafted large-format bottle, but we've adapted the formula to make it better suited for a home kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, serving 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Place everything in a sizeable jug. Add 130g water, stir until fully incorporated, then put it in the refrigerator. You can store it for about a few weeks.
To serve, dispense about 90ml of the infused whisky into a short glass filled with ice (traditionally one big block). Enjoy immediately. To honour tradition, you could measure it in by hand for authenticity.
