Cocktail of the Week: The Patiala Peg – Recipe

Tale claims that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his cricket team would triumph over a touring English team. To gain the upper hand, he organized a splendid party on the eve of the match, where he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were incredibly large four-finger measure whisky pours, traditionally measured from little finger to index finger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being terribly hungover and, consequently, vanquished the following day. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.

This take on a kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail takes its cue from that original beverage. At the restaurant, we offer it from a specially crafted large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the recipe to make it better suited for a home environment.

The Patiala Peg Recipe

Makes 1 litre, enough for 10-12 people.

You Will Need

• 725g blended Scotch
• 130g sugar syrup
• 6g Angostura bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
• 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
• A small pinch of salt
• 2g xanthan gum powder

Instructions

Put everything in a large bottle. Include 130g water, agitate to combine, then transfer it in the fridge. It can be stored for about a few weeks.

For serving, dispense roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass filled with ice (preferably one large cube). Drink promptly. If you're feeling traditional, you could use the four-finger measure as they did.