Drinking (and making) Scotch on Robert Burns Day

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Celebrate the birthday of Scotland’s favorite son Wednesday, also known as Burns Day, after the 18th century Romantic poet Robert Burns. Known for his lilting lyricism, storied love affairs and fondness for haggis, Burns also enjoyed a good glass of Scotch. To pay tribute, downtown whiskey bar Seven Grand is offering a special concoction that day called the Bobby Burns. A perfectly metered mix of Scotch, sweet vermouth and Benedictine, this cocktail will have you singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in no time. (The recipe is after the jump.)

The Scotch used in the Bobby Burns is the Glenrothes Select Reserve, a distillery that claims Ronnie Cox as its director -- a man so charming in his aristocratic yet buttoned-down appreciation of Scotch that you actually believe he must drink it every day by a fire in a vine-covered Scottish country home with a Scottish terrier dressed in a tartan by his leather-slipper-clad feet.

Click on the video linked here to watch Cox explain the rules for a competition the Glenrothes is currently holding to choose four U.S. winners to fly to Scotland to help create the newest Glenrothes vintage. Hint: It will require that you write about what Cox debonairly refers to as a ‘vintage moment,’ the perfect combination of time, place and people where everything comes together to remain in the memory forever.

Cox has a vintage moment every night after dinner. Of that I am sure.

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The Bobby Burns at Seven Grand

1.5 ounces Glenrothes Select Reserve

0.5 ounce Carpano Antica

Sweet Vermouth

0.5 ounce Benedictine

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir until cold. Strain and serve in a coupe glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

Seven Grand, 515 W. 7th St., L.A. (213) 614-0737; www.213nightlife.com/sevengrand