In Aberdeen, Scotland, “piping in” ice cream involves not a pastry bag, but a bagpipe. And the flavor in question is indisputably Scottish: haggis. The kilt-clad piper parades the haggis ice cream down the street, around the corner, and to the parlor where, for a brief time, it holds a place of honor in the refrigerated glass case.

Mackie’s of Scotland created their specialty, a haggis-laced custard with swirls of marmalade, in honor of Burns Day. The January 25 holiday celebrates the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who is most well-known writing the poem that became the classic New Year’s song Auld Lang Syne. Less well-known, however, might be Burns’s “Address to a Haggis.” As tribute, suppers during Burns Day include a reading of the poem and, of course, a main course of the sheep’s stomach stuffed with suet, oatmeal, and offal. Like the suppers, Mackie’s 2018 celebration featured a reading before the scooping began. 

Nothing works off a belly full of haggis ice cream better than a little haggis hurling, so if in Scotland around Burns Day, be sure to check out all the haggis-filled diversions.