Drink for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Tale claims that back in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his cricket team would win over a touring English side. To secure an advantage, he organized a splendid party the night before the match, at which he served his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These are notoriously substantial four-finger measure whisky servings, traditionally gauged from little finger to forefinger. Predictably, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, consequently, defeated the following day. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi spin on the old fashioned is inspired by Singh's concoction. In our establishment, we present it from a specially crafted five-litre bottle, but we've adjusted the recipe to make it better suited for a domestic kitchen.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Produces 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g sugar syrup (1:1)
- 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Put all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Add 130g water, mix thoroughly, then place it in the refrigerator. It will now keep for about three weeks.
To serve, dispense approximately 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass containing ice (preferably one big block). Serve immediately. For a traditional touch, you could pour it using your fingers for authenticity.
