Cocktail of the week: Ambassadors Clubhouse’s Patiala peg – recipe
Legend has it that in 1920 Bhupinder Singh, the maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his cricket team would triumph over a visiting English team. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a grand party the night before the match at which he served his guests Patiala pegs, famously generous four-finger whisky pours traditionally measured from pinky to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players overindulged, leaving them very hungover and, inevitably, defeated the next day, and the legend of the Patiala peg was born. This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned is inspired by Singh’s drink. At the restaurant, we serve it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we’ve adapted the recipe to make it more suitable for a domestic environment.
TL;DR
- The Patiala peg is a cocktail inspired by a legend involving the maharaja of Patiala and a cricket match in 1920.
- The maharaja allegedly used large whisky pours, known as Patiala pegs, to make visiting English cricketers overindulge, leading to their defeat.
- The cocktail is a Punjabi-style old fashioned.
- A recipe is provided for 1 liter of the drink, suitable for domestic preparation.
- Ingredients include blended scotch whisky, sugar syrup, Angostura bitters, orange bitters, salt, and xanthan gum.
- The mixture is combined with water, stirred, and refrigerated for up to three weeks.
- To serve, approximately 90ml is poured into a rocks glass with ice.