Cocktail for This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It

Folklore claims that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his team would triumph over a visiting English side. To gain the upper hand, he threw a grand party the night before the match, where he presented his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These were notoriously substantial four-finger measure whisky pours, customarily measured from pinky to index finger. As expected, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being extremely the worse for wear and, consequently, defeated the following day. And so, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.

This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned draws inspiration from Singh's concoction. Here, we serve it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we've modified the formula to make it better suited for a home kitchen.

Patiala Peg

Yields 1 litre, serving 10-12 people.

You Will Need

• 725g blended scotch whisky
• 130g simple syrup
• 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
• 1g orange bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
• A pinch of salt
• 2g xanthan gum powder

Method

Put everything in a large bottle. Include 130g water, mix thoroughly, then transfer it in the fridge. You can store it for about a few weeks.

For serving, pour approximately 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a rocks glass packed with ice (traditionally one big block). Serve promptly. For a traditional touch, you could use the four-finger measure instead.