Raise a glass to the Bard

Award-winning Scotch whisky, Glen Grant has partnered with The Bon Vivant, Thistle Street, to create the The Chieftain, a haggis-infused cocktail named after Robert Burns’ famous description of Scotland’s national dish, the ‘great chieftain o’ the pudding race’.

Created by Bon Vivant’s Will Cox, The Chieftain’s recipe is inspired by a traditional Burns Supper menu and includes ingredients found in the traditional meal.

The Chieftain comprises of an oat-washed Glen Grant 10 year old whisky combined with an offal stock syrup to replicate the unique meaty haggis flavour.

It is served with a pickled red onion, representing the ‘heart’, a salt and pepper air, representing the ‘lungs’, a turnip cordial, a nod to the neeps, and a haggis rim.

Cox explains, “The opportunity to make a Burns Night cocktail was too good to miss. It was very challenging, but we had a lot of fun coming up with The Chieftain and are looking forward to serving it to customers with a haggis bon bon or two on Burns nicht.”

The Chieftain will be available to buy in The Bon Vivant Bar tomorrow, for one night only, priced at £9.

At the same time, over at The Balmoral Hotel, you can celebrate Burns with a warming and unique tipple, R&B’s While We Wait, a characterful new whisky to drink neat or in a classic Old Fashioned.

The premium single malt brings together two expressions from one distillery: one peated, one un-peated. It’s a tantalising prediction of the flavours that will be produced at the new Rasaay distillery, due to open in Spring 2017.

The smoky peat aroma is softened in the finishing process which occurs in French oak Tuscan red wine casks and results in an unusual heather hue, light fruity aroma and musty warmth that pairs beautifully with the Burn’s Night special of haggis and sweet neeps.

If it’s just the dram you fancy trying, Raasay While We Wait (£56.95/70cl) is available from www.rbdistillers.com