You can’t celebrate Burn’s Night without Scotch. Yet there’s no real consensus on exactly which Scotch you should be drinking. If too many options have you stymied, we’re here to help. Here are our choices for the five best whiskies for Robert Burn’s Night, in no particular order:
Isle of Arran Robert Burns Single Malt
Robert Burns was born in Alloway, a village on the west coast of Scotland. While there are no distilleries in Alloway proper, it does sit directly across the Firth of Clyde from the Isle of Arran, which is home to a distillery, the appropriately named Isle of Arran Distillers. They’re proud of their close association with Robert Burns, so much so that they named a regular expression after him: Robert Burns Single Malt. If not now, when?
Auchentoshan
Robert Burns hails from the Lowland region of Scotland, a region once home to many distilleries that have since closed. Auchentoshan is one of just a handful of Lowland distilleries still carrying the torch. Their Auchentoshan American Oak expression is matured in exclusively first-fill ex-bourbon casks.
Springbank 10-Year-Old
During one episode of Robert’s famously wide-ranging life, he served as a bookkeeper for the owners of an estate in Jamaica. The name of the estate? Springbank. Admittedly, this is a very different Springbank than the distillery in Campbeltown, but don’t worry, there’s another connection. Robert Burn’s first love, Mary Campbell, was, in fact, from Campbeltown, A tenuous connection, to be sure, but we don’t need a lot of encouraging to crack open a bottle of Springbank’s eponymous 10-Year-Old single malt.
Bowmore 12-Year-Old
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Robert Burns lived from 1759 to 1796, which means that many of the distilleries he knew are no longer with us today. But a few are, including Bowmore, which officially began in 1779. Did Robbie enjoy a dram of Bowmore? It’s hard to know for sure, but we’re betting yes.
Talisker 10-Year-Old
Victoria Moore, The Telegraph’s wine columnist, says it loud and clear. “If there’s anything that can beat Talisker 10-Year-Old with a forkful of haggis then I would like to taste it.” If you’re doing up Burn’s Night proper, haggis and all, try this peated single malt from the Isle of Skye for a perfect pairing.
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