Robbie Burns!

Get your kilts on, grab a pint and dig into some haggis, neeps and tatties; it’s the most wonderful day of the year!

For those of you not overly familiar with Robbie Burns Day, we’re happy to give you the low down. First it’s important to note that in Scotland the celebration is perhaps more notably referred to as a Burns Supper held notably on Burns Night (the evening of Robert Burns’ birthday: January 25th). In North America (most notably in Canada where Scottish descendants can be found in abundance from coast-to coast-to coast), we tend to give Robbie a bit more credit, giving him the whole day as opposed to just the night. 

So who was Robbie Burns and why do we care? If you’re a fan of the English literary movement of Romanticism (which we’re assuming you may not be), you’re probably already more that privy to this pithy wordsmith. For the rest of the world that is perhaps a little too busy to engage in late 18th century English Literature, we can say Robert Burns was quite the celebrity in his day, at least to those across the British empire as well as the ever growing English speaking world. Many of his poems and written texts focused on social issues, as well as inequality in wealth and gender. He stood as an avid patriot for his home country of Scotland, writing a lot of his texts in both English and in the Scots language.

So what’s Robbie’s connection to beer? In recent years, in North America with the growing interest in beer culture, an accompaniment to this activity has been, and most likely always will be, it’s connection to folk songs and tunes to swing your glass to. Robert Burns is particularly famous for his original folk lyrics and adaptations to folk songs of the past. Perhaps his most recognized piece today would be his poem “Auld Lang Syne," converted into the popular song sung at the beginning of every new year. Okay, yes it’s true this tradition isn’t so popular as it was say 50 years ago, so forgive us if you’ve never heard the romantic lyrics of “Auld Lang Syne.” But if you’ve seen the movie “When Harry Met Sally…”, or the classic Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” you’ll know what we’re talking about.

 It’s certainly true that Robbie Burns Day is overshadowed in terms of a celebratory day of beer and merriment by an Irish saint we needn’t identify. But as the spirit of craft beer continues to grow as does the interest in our favourite Scottish poet. So grab some beer and sing a tune, like “Gude Ale Keeps The Heart Aboon:”

Gude Ale Keeps The Heart Aboon

(1795)

Chorus-O gude ale comes and gude ale goes;

Gude ale gars me sell my hose,

Sell my hose, and pawn my shoon-

Gude ale keeps my heart aboon!

I had sax owsen in a pleugh,

And they drew a' weel eneugh:

I sell'd them a' just ane by ane-

Gude ale keeps the heart aboon!

O gude ale comes, &c.

Gude ale hauds me bare and busy,

Gars me moop wi' the servant hizzie,

Stand i' the stool when I hae done-

Gude ale keeps the heart aboon!

O gude ale comes, &c.

Happy Robbie Burns Day!