Drink for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Tale has it that during 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was adamant that his team would succeed over a visiting English team. To gain the upper hand, he threw a lavish party the night before the match, where he presented his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are incredibly generous four-finger whisky pours, historically poured from pinky to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players drank too much, leaving them very hungover and, inevitably, defeated the next day. And so, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail takes its cue from that original concoction. In our establishment, we offer it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the instructions to make it easier for a household setting.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, enough for 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Method
Put everything in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, stir until fully incorporated, then place it in the fridge. It can be stored for as long as a few weeks.
For serving, pour about 90ml of the infused whisky into a old fashioned glass filled with ice (ideally one large cube). Serve straight away. If you're feeling traditional, you could pour it using your fingers for authenticity.
