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

Tale has it that in 1920, Bhupinder Singh, was adamant that his team would win over a touring English team. To gain the upper hand, he threw a grand party on the eve of the match, at which he offered his guests the notorious Patiala pegs. These were notoriously generous four-finger measure whisky pours, customarily poured from little finger to index finger. As expected, the English players partook excessively, resulting in them being very the worse for wear and, consequently, vanquished the next day. Thus, the legend of the Patiala peg was born.

This take on a kind-of Old Fashioned cocktail takes its cue from that original drink. At the restaurant, we present it from a specially crafted large-format bottle, but we've adjusted the formula to make it more suitable for a domestic environment.

Patiala Peg

Makes 1 litre, to serve 10-12 portions.

Ingredients

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

Instructions

Combine everything in a large bottle. Include 130g water, stir to combine, then transfer it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for as long as a few weeks.

To serve, dispense approximately 90ml of the prepared cocktail into a rocks glass packed with ice (preferably one big block). Drink promptly. If you're feeling traditional, you could pour it using your fingers as they did.