Cocktail for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Tale claims that during 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his team would triumph over a touring English side. To gain the upper hand, he threw a splendid party on the eve of the match, where he served his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are famously generous four-finger whisky servings, customarily measured from pinky to index finger. As expected, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being terribly the worse for wear and, inevitably, vanquished the following day. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg was born.
This inspired variation of Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by that original drink. Here, we present it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've modified the recipe to make it better suited for a domestic kitchen.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Yields 1 litre, enough for 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Preparation
Place all the ingredients in a big container. Add 130g water, agitate to combine, then transfer it in the refrigerator. It will now keep for as long as three weeks.
To serve, measure out approximately 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a old fashioned glass packed with ice (preferably one large cube). Serve promptly. For a traditional touch, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
