Cocktail This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – Recipe
Folklore claims that back in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his cricket team would succeed over a touring English squad. To secure an advantage, he threw a splendid party the night before the match, at which he presented his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were famously substantial four-finger measure whisky pours, historically gauged from little finger to forefinger. As expected, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being terribly hungover and, inevitably, beaten the day after. Thus, the myth of the Patiala peg was born.
This take on a variation of old fashioned takes its cue from that original drink. At the restaurant, we present it from a bespoke large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the recipe to make it easier for a domestic kitchen.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Yields 1 litre, serving 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A small pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Combine everything in a big container. Include 130g water, mix until fully incorporated, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for as long as 21 days.
For serving, pour roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a old fashioned glass filled with ice (ideally one big block). Drink immediately. To honour tradition, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
