Cocktail of the Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It
Legend suggests that in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was adamant that his cricket team would win over a visiting English side. To gain the upper hand, he organized a grand party on the eve of the match, at which he presented his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are incredibly large four-finger measure whisky servings, historically poured from little finger to forefinger. Unsurprisingly, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, consequently, beaten the following day. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg originated.
This Punjabi kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by that original drink. Here, we offer it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we've adjusted the formula to make it better suited for a home setting.
Patiala Peg
Produces 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Instructions
Place all the ingredients in a big container. Add 130g water, agitate thoroughly, then put it in the refrigerator. It will now keep for as long as a few weeks.
For serving, measure out roughly 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a rocks glass containing ice (preferably one large cube). Drink straight away. To honour tradition, you could measure it in by hand as they did.
