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

Folklore claims that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his cricket team would succeed over a visiting English squad. To secure an advantage, he organized a splendid party on the eve of the match, at which he presented his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are notoriously generous four-finger measure whisky servings, historically measured from pinky to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being extremely the worse for wear and, inevitably, defeated the day after. In this way, the legend of the Patiala peg originated.

This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned draws inspiration from that original drink. At the restaurant, we serve it from a custom-made large-format bottle, but we've modified the instructions to make it easier for a domestic kitchen.

The Patiala Peg Recipe

Makes 1 litre, enough for 10-12 drinks.

What's Required

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

Method

Combine all the ingredients in a sizeable jug. Include 130g water, stir thoroughly, then transfer it in the refrigerator. It will now keep for about a few weeks.

For serving, dispense roughly 90ml of the infused whisky into a rocks glass containing ice (traditionally one large cube). Serve immediately. For a traditional touch, you could use the four-finger measure as they did.