Drink for This Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It

Tale has it that back in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his cricket team would triumph over a touring English team. To secure an advantage, he threw a lavish party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are notoriously generous four-finger whisky pours, historically gauged from little finger to forefinger. Unsurprisingly, the English players drank too much, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, inevitably, defeated the following day. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg originated.

This Punjabi spin on the Old Fashioned cocktail is inspired by the Maharaja's drink. In our establishment, we serve it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've adapted the recipe to make it easier for a household kitchen.

Patiala Peg

Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 drinks.

Ingredients

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

Preparation

Place everything in a large bottle. Add 130g water, stir thoroughly, then place it in the fridge. You can store it for about 21 days.

For serving, dispense approximately 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a short glass packed with ice (preferably one big block). Drink immediately. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers instead.