Drink for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Legend suggests that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his cricket team would succeed over a visiting English squad. To secure an advantage, he hosted a lavish party the night before the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were notoriously generous four-finger measure whisky servings, traditionally measured from little finger to forefinger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being extremely hungover and, inevitably, vanquished the next day. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg originated.
This inspired kind-of old fashioned is inspired by Singh's beverage. At the restaurant, we serve it from a bespoke large-format bottle, but we've adapted the recipe to make it more suitable for a home environment.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
What's Required
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1â…“ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately â…• tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Preparation
Combine all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Include 130g water, stir thoroughly, then put it in the fridge. You can store it for up to three weeks.
For serving, pour roughly 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a old fashioned glass packed with ice (traditionally one large cube). Drink promptly. To honour tradition, you could use the four-finger measure as they did.
