Drink of the Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe

Legend suggests that in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was adamant that his team would triumph over a visiting English side. To secure an advantage, he hosted a grand party the night before the match, at which he served his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are incredibly large four-finger measure whisky servings, customarily measured from little finger to forefinger. As expected, the English players partook excessively, leaving them extremely hungover and, inevitably, defeated the day after. Thus, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.

This take on a variation of old fashioned draws inspiration from that original beverage. At the restaurant, we present it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've adapted the formula to make it more suitable for a home environment.

Patiala Peg

Produces 1 litre, enough for 10-12 portions.

Ingredients

• 725g blended Scotch
• 130g sugar syrup
• 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
• 1g orange-flavoured bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
• A dash of salt
• 2g xanthan gum

Method

Place all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Include 130g water, mix to combine, then put it in the refrigerator. You can store it for about three weeks.

For serving, measure out about 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a rocks glass filled with ice (ideally one large cube). Enjoy promptly. To honour tradition, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.