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

Legend has it that in 1920, the Maharaja of Patiala, was adamant that his cricket team would succeed over a visiting English team. To secure an advantage, he organized a lavish party on the eve of the match, where he presented his guests the legendary Patiala pegs. These are notoriously generous four-finger whisky pours, customarily gauged from little finger to index finger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, leaving them extremely the worse for wear and, inevitably, vanquished the day after. And so, the legend of the Patiala peg came to be.

This Punjabi spin on the old fashioned takes its cue from Singh's concoction. Here, we present it from a custom-made five-litre bottle, but we've adjusted the instructions to make it more suitable for a household environment.

The Patiala Peg Recipe

Makes 1 litre, serving 10-12 drinks.

Ingredients

• 725g blended scotch whisky
• 130g simple syrup
• 6g Angostura aromatic bitters (about 1⅓ tsp)
• 1g orange bitters (approximately ⅕ tsp)
• A pinch of salt
• 2g xanthan gum

Preparation

Combine all the ingredients in a large bottle. Include 130g water, mix thoroughly, then place it in the refrigerator. You can store it for as long as a few weeks.

To serve, measure out about 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a old fashioned glass packed with ice (preferably one big block). Enjoy promptly. If you're feeling traditional, you could measure it in by hand instead.