Cocktail This Week: The Patiala Peg – Recipe
Tale suggests that during 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his cricket team would succeed over a touring English squad. To secure an advantage, he organized a lavish party on the eve of the match, at which he presented his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are incredibly large four-finger whisky servings, historically gauged from little finger to forefinger. As expected, the English players partook excessively, leaving them extremely hungover and, inevitably, beaten the next day. Thus, the story of the Patiala peg was born.
This Punjabi spin on the old fashioned draws inspiration from the Maharaja's concoction. Here, we serve it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've modified the recipe to make it better suited for a household kitchen.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Produces 1 litre, serving 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Method
Combine everything in a sizeable jug. Include 130g water, mix to combine, then put it in the refrigerator. It will now keep for about three weeks.
To serve, measure out about 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a short glass filled with ice (ideally one big block). Enjoy immediately. To honour tradition, you could use the four-finger measure for authenticity.
