It is that annual celebration of Scotland’s national poet, where we all find an excuse to cook a haggis, buy a bottle of Scotch and enjoy some jovial banter around the dinner table.
Robert Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire, was born in 1795 near Ayr and was largely home schooled. He started work on his vast poetry and lyric canon aged 15 during breaks while labouring at a farm, often talking about the tough life in rural Scotland also earning him the epitaph as the Ploughman Poet. Burns had a difficult life dying at the age of only 37, but he what he left on parchment will never be forgotten and is celebrated around the world, especially on January 25, his birthday, when Burns suppers will be enjoyed around the world. To celebrate we’ve put together a wee case of big Scottish beers to help your Burns Supper go with your recital of Auld Lang Syne. All together:
“And surely you'll buy your pint cup!
and surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.”
Harviestoun / Ola Dubh Special Reserve 12 years / 8%
This would taste amazing with haggis. Ola Dubh (‘Black Oil’) is the unique lovechild of Harviestoun Brewery and Highland Park distillery and a development of their Engine Oil Porter, this deliciously rich, dark, 8% a.b.v. beer is the first beer to be aged in malt whisky casks from a named distillery. Harviestoun Ola Dubh 12 year old won United Kingdom's Best Wood Aged Beer at the World Beer Awards 2015.
The original craft beer! Williams Bros. Fraoch Heather Ale is brewed according to a 4,000-year-old recipe. Made with heather and bogmyrtle, the taste is light with flavours of heather, herbs, spice, and perhaps peat coming through. Florals and berries come through on the nose. Finishing clean and smooth, this speciality ale is at once exotic and familiar.
Brewdog / Restorative Beverage for Invalids and Convalescents / 8.5%
The ‘father of Pharmacology’ Dr Jonathan Pereira in 1843 wrote: “The Indian Pale Ale is carefully fermented, so as to be devoid of all sweetness, or, in other words, to be dry; and it contains double the usual quantity of hops. It forms, therefore, a most valuable restorative beverage for invalids and convalescents.” Supposed health benefits aside, Brewdog's Restorative Beverage is a hugely hoppy and powerfully bitter IPA - a must try for Born to Die fans.
Stewart Brewing / Black IPA / 5%
A jet-black pour is topped off by a creamy tan head. Notes of pine, grapefruit and orange-y citrus are complemented by hints of coffee, roasted malts, and caramel. With all of the hop character the finish is not as bitter as one would think, instead it is smooth and easy-drinking.
Fyne Ales / Pipers Gold / 3.8%
Piper's Gold has a delicate floral aroma, followed by flavours of juicy orange and zesty lemon peel layered over a firm malty backbone. This 3.8% ABV golden session beer is fresh and thirst-quenching, with a lingering bitterness and balanced finish.
