Drink of the Week: The Patiala Peg – Recipe

Legend claims that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his cricket team would succeed over a touring English team. For a competitive edge, he organized a lavish party on the eve of the match, where he served his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are notoriously large four-finger measure whisky pours, customarily gauged from little finger to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being extremely hungover and, consequently, beaten the day after. And so, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.

This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned takes its cue from the Maharaja's beverage. Here, we offer it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've modified the instructions to make it more suitable for a home environment.

Patiala Peg

Yields 1 litre, enough for 10-12 people.

Ingredients

• 725g blended scotch whisky
• 130g simple syrup
• 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
• 1g orange bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
• A small pinch of salt
• 2g xanthan gum

Preparation

Place all the ingredients in a large bottle. Include 130g water, stir thoroughly, then place it in the fridge. You can store it for up to three weeks.

For serving, dispense about 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a old fashioned glass containing ice (traditionally one large cube). Enjoy straight away. For a traditional touch, you could measure it in by hand instead.