Robinsons Brewery:
Trooper - Premium British Beer
This is just another great beer story - an age-old brewery that is still owned and run by the same family that started it way back in the first place.
I think the first rock star to delve into the booze business had to be Sammy Hagar, with his Cabo Wabo Tequila of the 1990s. Today, there seems to be many rockers turned distillers/brewers. In 2013, Bruce Dickenson, Iron Maiden's lead vocalist, teamed up with Robinsons to produce Trooper. As the saying goes: Created by Iron Maiden, Hand Crafted by Robinsons.
It all began back on 29 September 1838, when William Robinson, who was a local Cheshire grain merchant, bought a pub called the Unicorn Inn from its present owner, a dude named Samuel Hole. Located in Lower Hillgate, Stockport, Greater Manchester, the Unicorn Inn was tended to by William for the next 10-odd years, when he moved away leaving the pub in the hands of his son George, who soon began to brew beer for the pub. It was in 1859, that William's youngest son Frederic came on board, took over running the Unicorn Inn, and began to brew beer in a bigger way, supplying beer to the local community. In 1878, the family business owned and operated not only the brewery, but also a grand total of 2 pubs. In 1890, when Frederic passed away, this total had grown to 12 pubs. For the next 30 years Frederic's widow Emma, his son William, and William's brood of sons ran the firm, finally forming a company called Frederic Robinson Ltd in 1920.
The Unicorn Inn was where it all started, when William Robinson started to brew his own beer. The current company logo harkens back to this first pub.
Since then the company has continued to grow, often by assuming control of other breweries, and those brewery's tied public houses. For example, in 1949 Frederic Robinson Ltd took over the Hempshaw Brook Brewery, along with that brewery's 160 tied public houses, while later, in 1982, The Old Brewery in Ulverston, Cumbria was added to the fold, along with its 56 tied pubs.
Today, Frederic Robinson Ltd, or more familiarly simply Robinsons, still brews beer on the site of the old Unicorn Inn, as well as other locations, producing a range of beers in bottles, casks and kegs. This includes both the standard offerings, as well as special seasonal beers. Some of their beers, like Unicorn and Old Tom, have recipes that date back over 100 years, while others - Dizzy Blonde, for example - have a more modern twist. Robinsons beers can be found in one of their over 300 pubs, and on the open market. With such a wide offering of intriguing beers, and clearly some distribution in North America, the search goes on for more Robinsons products over here on this side of the pond.
Robinsons Trooper Premium British Beer - yes, indeed!