Drink for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Folklore suggests that back in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his team would succeed over a visiting English side. For a competitive edge, he organized a lavish party the night before the match, at which he offered his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are notoriously large four-finger whisky pours, customarily poured from little finger to index finger. As expected, the English players drank too much, leaving them extremely the worse for wear and, inevitably, defeated the day after. Thus, the myth of the Patiala peg came to be.
This inspired kind-of old fashioned takes its cue from that original drink. At the restaurant, we present it from a specially crafted large-format bottle, but we've modified the formula to make it easier for a domestic setting.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g simple syrup
- 6g Angostura bitters (approximately 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (about ⅕ tsp)
- A dash of salt
- 2g xanthan gum powder
Instructions
Place everything in a big container. Add 130g water, mix until fully incorporated, then place it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for as long as a few weeks.
To serve, dispense roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a short glass filled with ice (ideally one big block). Enjoy immediately. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.
