Getty Images/Jeff J Mitchell / Staff
Burns Night, the annual celebration that marks the birthday of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns, is toasted every January 25th with suppers, songs, drams, and readings around the world. A few years ago, the University of Glasgow built a Burns Night interactive map that showed more than 2,500 Burns Night celebrations taking place globally, leaving out the countless number of private Burns Night parties and suppers. You can celebrate Burns Night like a true Scot, but the occasion calls for any type of gathering you wish. The only de rigueur item for the evening is whisky, which was an integral part of Burn’s everyday life and is mentioned frequently in his poems and songs, including Tam O’Shanter, John Barleycorn, and many more.
All of which begs the question: What scotch whiskies are best for Burns Night? While any scotch will do, it’s fun to toast the bard with whiskies of his old stomping grounds.
Burns was a child of Lowland Scotland, and spent his entire life there—in the county of Ayrshire in the western Lowlands, in nearby Dumfriesshire, and the capital city of Edinburgh. He was born in 1759 in the village of Alloway, where his family birthplace, Burns Cottage, stands today along with the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. Raised into the life of a tenant farmer, Burns made his living at it in adulthood, barely eking out a living at several farms including one at Lochlea, where Lochlea Distillery is located today. It was at another of those farms, Mossgiel Farm (which still exists), where Burns began writing poetry at age 16. Some of his more famous poems, including “To a Mouse,” and “Address to the Devil,” were written there.
Burns’s first book of poetry, “Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect,” was published in 1786 in Kilmarnock—the same Ayrshire town where grocer John Walker would found Johnnie Walker blended scotch a few decades later. Upon its publication, Burns moved to Edinburgh, where he became famous and stayed for two years as a celebrated guest among the glitterati. But fame did not bring fortune, and in 1788 he left Edinburgh for a farm at Ellisland near Dumfries, about 70 miles to the south, where he lived until his death in 1796.
For the last six years of his life, Burns worked as an exciseman, finally using his education to gain modest living. It was a somewhat anguished decision, given his championing of the ordinary citizen, and he wrote about it in the poem “The Author’s Earnest Cry and Prayer”. The farm where he lived at Ellisland today is open to visitors as the Robert Burns Ellisland Museum & Farm in warmer months (it shuts down in the winter). Many of his most memorable works were written here, including “Auld Lang Syne” and “Tam o Shanter.” A visit provides the opportunity to see the world as Burns saw it. During his time at Ellisland, his favorite pub was the Globe Inn down the road in Dumfries, which today makes the most of its Burns connection. It's owned by Lowlands whisky maker Annandale Distillery.
Toast Robert Burns With These Whiskies
Lowlands
92 points - Lochlea Our Barley, 46%, $70
Lochlea Distillery is in the heart of Ayreshire, right where Burns and his brother worked the land at Lochlea Farm from 1777-1784. He spent his evenings at the Batchelor’s Club in nearby Tarbolton, a social club that he co-founded and which still stands today as a destination for Robert Burns devotees. Lochlea Distillery, founded in 2015, is also releasing Lochlea 6 Year Old on January 24, on the eve of Burns's birthday. It tops last January's release of Lochlea 5 year old as its oldest release yet, and there will be just 2,500 bottles available. In addition, the distillery is recommending its Lochlea Ploughing Edition Second Crop, a seasonal small batch release.
92 points - Hollyrood Embra Single Malt, 43.6%, $100
A modern distillery, founded in 2019 and located in the heart of Edinburgh. Burns would have approved.
Not Rated - Glenkinchie 12 year old Distillers Edition, 43%, $85
Located just 16 miles outside of Edinburgh, Glenkinchie is known as "The Edinburgh Malt" and is among the most famous Lowland labels.
Not Rated - Annandale Man O’ Sword, 60.6%, $90
Annandale Distillery was reborn in 2014 after being closed for 100 years. Thus far its whiskies are mainly its single cask selections, the primary one sold under the Man O’Sword label, priced between $100-$115. Its Burns connection is cemented through its ownership of the poet's beloved local, The Globe Inn in Dumfries.
Islands
92 points - Arran Quarter Cask The Bothy Cask Strength, 56.2%, $75
Burns’s hometown of Alloway looks out across the water to the Isle of Arran, a view that Burns doubtlessly enjoyed during his days there.
Not Rated - Robert Burns Single Malt, 43%, $38
This commemorative dram is made by Isle Of Arran Distillers as a tribute to Robert Burns.
Highlands and Blends
Burns did drink plenty of Highlands whisky—a favorite was Ferintosh, made on the Black Isle north of Inverness, whose closure in 1786 he lamented in the poem "Scotch Drink." Burns visited the Highlands only once on an extended tour in 1787, but his poem "My Heart is in the Highlands" is among his most famous. Here are a few whiskies from places he either visited or passed by on his Highlands visit.
93 points - Glenglassaugh Portsoy, 49.1%, $75
The peated expression in the Glenglasaugh lineup, which also includes the non-age statement label and a 12 year old.
92 points - John Walker & Sons Celebratory Blend, 51%, $75
Originally from Kilmarnock, where Robert Burns had his first book of poems published.
90 points - Loch Lomond 18 year old, 46%, $150
The beautiful Loch Lomond, though not the distillery, was visited by Burns on his Highlands tour.
Not Rated - Glenturret 10 year old Peat Smoked, 48.4%, $80
Though not a stop for Burns on his Highlands trip, Glenturret claims to be the oldest distillery in the Highlands and was actually up and running in his day.
