Drink for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Folklore claims that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his team would win over a visiting English squad. To secure an advantage, he hosted a splendid party the night before the match, where he offered his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are notoriously substantial four-finger measure whisky servings, customarily measured from little finger to forefinger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, leaving them very the worse for wear and, consequently, beaten the following day. Thus, the myth of the Patiala peg originated.
This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned draws inspiration from Singh's concoction. In our establishment, we offer it from a specially crafted large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the instructions to make it easier for a household kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Makes 1 litre, serving 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Method
Place all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Include 130g water, agitate thoroughly, then transfer it in the refrigerator. You can store it for as long as three weeks.
To serve, measure out roughly 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a short glass containing ice (traditionally one big block). Drink immediately. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.
