Those of you who have read our blog for some time have now heard many references to the beloved Robbie Burns Day, my favorite day of the year.  Robert Burns was an 18^th century Scottish poet, as well as a romantic, a drunkard, a farmer, and a lout, who became known as the Bard of Scotland. 

The Scots celebrate his birthday every year with pipers, haggis, poetry readings, and of course whisky.  Because at Jackalope we like to do things a little differently, we have come up with our own way to pay tribute to this Great Scot…beer, plaid, and made-up games. On Saturday January 21st, from 2:00 pm till 8:00 pm, we will be hosting Jackalope’s first Annual Robert Burns Day Party & Highland Games Festival.   While we would have loved to include actual caber toss and stone put events, something tells me our insurance folks would not have appreciated it. SO, the games will go as follows:

Teams of four will compete in games of skill, intellect, and strength.  There will be four individual events and one team event to determine the winning team.  Each individual from the team must compete in one of the individual events, which will be:

1.     A Putting Contest.  We all know that Scotland is the birthplace of Golf. Robyn and I have even hit the links (ok, the driving range…ok, they laughed at us…) at the Old Course in St Andrews, so it only seems right to start the day off with a battle of the short games.

2.     A Highland Cow Drawing Contest.  Fact: highland cattle are the best kinds of cows.  They are also the namesakes of our Hairy Highlander Scottish Ale, the rotating brew that will be debuting in the taproom on January 14.  Individuals will compose their very best highlander drawings.  The favorite will be chosen by the public and forever immortalized on our wall.  To get your mind working:

3.     A Wall-Sit Contest.  And to keep it interesting, contestants will be holding a quarter barrel keg (don’t freak out, it’s going to be empty).  We have tested this concept out, and we can all do this. Not for long, but can.  Last one standing (errr, sitting) wins.

4.     A Poetry Reading Contest. This one is quite simple.  We will provide you with a (short) Robert Burns poem to recite aloud, showing off your best/most enthusiastic Scottish accent while you do.  I’m not gonna lie, this one is my favorite.

The team event, well, a gal’s gotta have some secrets, right? SO start putting your team of golfers, artists, weightlifters, and actooooors/pirates together!  Or just be an observer/cheerleader/heckler/beer drinker, that works too.  We will be giving bonus points for costumes (hint: PLAID), team names, and knowledge of Scottish trivia.  The first event will kick off precisely at 3:00 pm, with the last event planned for around 5:00. After that everyone can stick around to enjoy beer, music (remember the DJs Get Better from the Halloween party?  They’re back!), food, and general merrymaking.

Oh yeah, we’ll also have a very special one-off brew to tap during the party…

Slàinte!