Drink for This Week: The Patiala Peg Cocktail – How to Make It

Legend has it that during 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was set that his team would triumph over a visiting English squad. To secure an advantage, he organized a lavish party on the eve of the match, where he offered his guests the famous Patiala pegs. These are famously generous four-finger whisky servings, customarily gauged from pinky to forefinger. Predictably, the English players overindulged, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, inevitably, vanquished the next day. Thus, the myth of the Patiala peg came to be.

This take on a kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail draws inspiration from the Maharaja's beverage. In our establishment, we serve it from a bespoke large-format bottle, but we've modified the formula to make it more suitable for a household environment.

Patiala Peg

Yields 1 litre, to serve 10-12 people.

Ingredients

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

Preparation

Combine everything in a big container. Include 130g water, stir to combine, then transfer it in the fridge. You can store it for as long as 21 days.

When ready to drink, pour about 90ml of the Patiala peg mixture into a rocks glass filled with ice (ideally one large cube). Enjoy immediately. For a traditional touch, you could measure it in by hand instead.