Drink of the Week: The Patiala Peg – How to Make It

Tale suggests that back in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was determined that his cricket team would succeed over a touring English team. For a competitive edge, he organized a lavish party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These are incredibly substantial four-finger whisky pours, customarily measured from little finger to index finger. As expected, the English players drank too much, leaving them very the worse for wear and, consequently, defeated the following day. And so, the myth of the Patiala peg came to be.

This inspired variation of old fashioned takes its cue from the Maharaja's beverage. Here, we serve it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've modified the recipe to make it better suited for a household kitchen.

Patiala Peg

Makes 1 litre, enough for 10-12 portions.

You Will Need

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

Preparation

Put everything in a large bottle. Pour in 130g water, agitate thoroughly, then place it in the fridge. You can store it for as long as a few weeks.

To serve, pour approximately 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a old fashioned glass packed with ice (ideally one big block). Drink straight away. If you're feeling traditional, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.