Drink for This Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It
Tale has it that during 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his cricket team would triumph over a visiting English side. To secure an advantage, he organized a grand party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These were notoriously generous four-finger measure whisky servings, customarily measured from pinky to index finger. As expected, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being terribly the worse for wear and, consequently, beaten the following day. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg was born.
This take on a kind-of old fashioned is inspired by that original concoction. Here, we serve it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've adapted the recipe to make it easier for a domestic kitchen.
The Patiala Peg Recipe
Produces 1 litre, serving 10-12 portions.
Ingredients
- 725g Scotch whisky blend
- 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
Combine everything in a sizeable jug. Pour in 130g water, mix until fully incorporated, then transfer it in the fridge. It will now keep for about three weeks.
For serving, measure out approximately 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a short glass containing ice (traditionally one big block). Serve promptly. If you're feeling traditional, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.
