Cocktail of the Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe
Folklore has it that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his team would succeed over a touring English squad. To secure an advantage, he hosted a lavish party on the eve of the match, where he served his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are notoriously large four-finger whisky servings, customarily measured from pinky to forefinger. Unsurprisingly, the English players drank too much, leaving them very the worse for wear and, consequently, defeated the following day. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.
This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned takes its cue from that original concoction. Here, we serve it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've modified the recipe to make it easier for a home setting.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Produces 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g blended Scotch
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Method
Place all the ingredients in a large bottle. Pour in 130g water, mix until fully incorporated, then place it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for as long as three weeks.
To serve, pour roughly 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a short glass packed with ice (preferably one big block). Serve immediately. For a traditional touch, you could measure it in by hand instead.