Burns Night is one of my favourite dates on the calendar. What’s better, truly, than a night of hearty food, beer, and whisky, married with a few verses from Scotland’s bard, Rabbie Burns.

In the spirit of the season, we’ve decided to throw and impromptu Burns Night of our own. This came about while chatting to our friends at Slice Culture (who, for our money, are making some of the best pizza in Manchester right now) about throwing some haggis on a pizza, which they were very keen to do. Track Brewing, our hosts for the evening, were also keen, so we asked a couple of pals if they’d like to read some spoken word and the event was set. Burns Night, here in Manchester, with a Pellicle twist.

The concept is a simple one: haggis, potato and caramelised onion pizza (inc. veggie options) available by the slice, beer from Track, whisky available by the dram, and spoken word from Amber Dernulc, Felix Hagan (Operation Mincemeat—yes, the West End musical), and Ethan Burgess-Hunt (Shapeshift Spoken Word). There’s even talk of a special whisky dipping sauce using barrel-aged beer…

Best of all, the evening is free to attend. Simply rock up on the evening of January 25th, pay for your pizza, beer and whisky as you go, and enjoy some poetry (both original, and of the Bard himself) from about 7:30pm. The evening will be compered by our editor-in-chief Matthew Curtis, who will be toasting the haggis (although, thankfully, not with the ridiculous faux-Scots accent he attempted at a similar event he ran a few years ago.)

You can find the Track Taproom at Unit 18, Piccadilly Trading Estate, Manchester M1 2NP. Slice Culture will be serving pizzas from 5pm until they sell out. We look forward to seeing you there and celebrating this wonderful occasion with you.