Burns Night – not all Pomp and Circumstance
I’ve been giving tips over the last few days on how to put on a cost effective and enjoyable Burns’ Night on January 25 without going to a huge amount of effort or cost.
The simple thing to remember about Burns’ Night is that while it is now wrapped in ceremony and tradition, all of the pomp and circumstance has been added on since Burns’ time and shouldn’t be considered as set in stone.
Burns himself was the equivalent of a rock star today and was booked by the wealthy to entertain them. The whole point of a Burns dinner is to drink whisky, eat plenty after the relative abstinence of January, and to listen to readings. The evenings would have been about indulgence and anything but ceremony.
Further, the idea of whisky or haggis being central to a Burns evening is an add on. The ode to a haggis is meant to be a humorous mickey taking of the Scottish dish, and although whisky and Burns have become entwined, for some parts of his life Burns was no friend of the distiller – having worked as a gauger or excise man, committed to unearthing illicit stills.
What’s more, despite the fact that zealots would argue that haggis and whisky ‘gan together’ the two are not best suited because whisky is too strong a drink for the taste of haggis. Indeed, a whisky and haggis tasting at The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh six years ago by a panel of judges including Jo McSween of McSween Haggises, concluded that the best combination of haggis and whisky was haggis with Cabernet Sauvignon wine!
What I’m saying is that you can do pretty much what you want with Burns Night. My suggestion, however, is that you offer a meal with whisky supplied before, during, and after dinner.
Go for four Scottish single malt whiskies, choosing four from different regions of Scotland. Find out about the whiskies – it’s easy enough to do on line or through one of the many books published about whisky – so that you can introduce each one. You don’t need to say much.
Go for a Lowland malt before dinner, two Speyside, Highland or island whiskies between courses, and an Islay peated whisky at the end – but give your guests who don’t want a peaty whisky a non-peated alternative.
Don’t be precious about the whisky offering – if people prefer to drink beer or wine, fine. And don’t forget to offer a special and non-standard non alcoholic drink for designated drivers.
