Cocktail This Week: Ambassadors Clubhouse's Patiala Peg Cocktail – Recipe

Folklore suggests that back in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was adamant that his team would triumph over a visiting English squad. For a competitive edge, he hosted a grand party the night before the match, where he presented his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are incredibly substantial four-finger measure whisky servings, customarily gauged from little finger to index finger. As expected, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being extremely the worse for wear and, inevitably, beaten the day after. In this way, the story of the Patiala peg came to be.

This take on a variation of old fashioned is inspired by that original concoction. In our establishment, we present it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've modified the instructions to make it more suitable for a home environment.

Patiala Peg

Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.

Ingredients

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

Instructions

Place everything in a large bottle. Add 130g water, mix thoroughly, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for about three weeks.

For serving, measure out approximately 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a old fashioned glass packed with ice (traditionally one big block). Enjoy immediately. For a traditional touch, you could use the four-finger measure instead.

Joseph Lang
Joseph Lang

A passionate comic book enthusiast and film critic with over a decade of experience in the superhero genre.