Cocktail of the Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – Recipe
Tale claims that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his cricket team would triumph over a visiting English side. To secure an advantage, he hosted a grand party the night before the match, at which he offered his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These were notoriously generous four-finger whisky pours, customarily poured from pinky to forefinger. Predictably, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being terribly the worse for wear and, consequently, defeated the following day. Thus, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.
This take on a variation of old fashioned is inspired by that original beverage. At the restaurant, we serve it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we've adapted the instructions to make it better suited for a household kitchen.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Makes 1 litre, to serve 10-12 people.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Combine all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Add 130g water, mix until fully incorporated, then transfer it in the fridge. It can be stored for as long as three weeks.
For serving, dispense about 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a rocks glass packed with ice (traditionally one large cube). Serve promptly. If you're feeling traditional, you could measure it in by hand instead.
