Drink This Week: The Patiala Peg – Recipe
Tale has it that during 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was set that his team would win over a visiting English team. For a competitive edge, he threw a grand party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are famously large four-finger measure whisky pours, historically gauged from pinky to index finger. As expected, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being terribly the worse for wear and, consequently, defeated the next day. And so, the story of the Patiala peg originated.
This take on a variation of old fashioned draws inspiration from Singh's concoction. Here, we present it from a specially crafted large-format bottle, but we've adapted the formula to make it easier for a home kitchen.
Patiala Peg
Yields 1 litre, enough for 10-12 drinks.
Ingredients
- 725g blended scotch whisky
- 130g sugar syrup
- 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
- 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
- A pinch of salt
- 2g xanthan gum
Instructions
Combine everything in a big container. Include 130g water, agitate until fully incorporated, then put it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for up to a few weeks.
To serve, measure out about 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass packed with ice (ideally one large cube). Enjoy immediately. If you're feeling traditional, you could use the four-finger measure instead.
