Robinson Of Stockport

A major re-development at Frederic Robinson of Stockport will see volumes of beer double from 50,000 barrels to 100,000 a year - and most of the output will be in cask-conditioned form. Robinson's, which owns 400 pubs in North-west England, including the Lake District, is forging ahead despite the impact of the recession.

As well as its own pubs, Robinson's sells 10,000 barrels a year to the free trade and also contract-brews for other companies. In addition, it has a strong range of bottled beers, including the multi-award-winning barley wine Old Tom. The company has a large portfolio of 11 casks beers, ranging from Hatters, a 3.3% mild, to the 8.5% draught version of Old Tom. In between there's Dizzy Blonde, a golden ale, Unicorn, the bedrock best bitter, Double Hop, a modern beer with a big punch of hops, and two beers - XB and Cumbria Way - for the Hartley's pub trade in the Lake District: Hartley's was taken over in 1982.

Engineering manager Simon Wells (left) and Head brewer Chris Hellin (right) are in charge of the overhaul of the plant. They took me on a tour of the present site, where most vessels date from the 1920s. The present kit is a traditional ale system of mash tuns and coppers. The new plant, built by Steinecker in Germany, will use

energy-efficient mash mixers, filtration vessels [lauter tuns], wort kettles and hop filters that allow more brews per day to be processed.

"We'll cut our carbon footprint by 50%," Chris Hellin says. "We're looking at energy recovery - for example, the central heating system in the offices will be supplied by the new brewhouse." As well as the brewhouse, a 4m investment will include a visitor centre while a museum will eventually house the current mash tuns and coppers.

The new brewhouse, due to come on stream by July 2011, will be between 60 and 70% more efficient than the present system. As well as producing the mainstream beers, the brewhouse can be adapted to small runs of 50 barrels. Three new malt silos will be installed while the current cold and hot liquor tanks will be moved outside the brewhouse to make room for new brewing vessels. The flexible Steinecker plant is capable of producing both ale and lager, though Robinson's has no plans to brew lager at present. Its Einhorn lager was abandoned some years ago.

Chris Hellin uses Pearl and Tipple malting barleys for his beers. The hop store has an impressive range, including Amarillo used in the golden ale Dizzy Blonde, Bobek - the new name for Styrian Goldings --Bramling Cross, Columbus, First Gold, Fuggles, Hersbrucker, Northdown, Saaz, Sovereign and Willamette. The new equipment will be capable of processing both whole hops and pellets.

Robinson's has two on-site wells for brewing liquor. Chris Hellin describes the local water as medium hard. He acidifies it to remove some of the hardness and adds gypsum to produce liquor that is ideal for brewing ales.

He has 14 fermenting vessels, ranging in size from 70 to 300 barrels. Robinson's may have to add to fermenting capacity to keep pace with a demand that seems recession-proof and scorns the claim by global brewers that there's no demand for cask beer.

Back story

The Robinson story begins in the Unicorn Inn in Stockport, a pub with its own small brewery where William Robinson became landlord in 1826. He made a great success of the pub in a town that was growing rapidly with the mill trade. Pub and brewery were taken over his William's son Frederic, who expanded the brewing operation.

To this day the brewery is known as the Unicorn. Frederic was concerned that pubs in the North-west could not keep his ales in good condition and as a result started to build a tied estate of his own houses. He added to the brewery's income by bottling Guinness for the Dublin-based stout brewer. His successors continued expansion, building a new brewhouse in the 1920s, taking over several other breweries in the Cheshire and Manchester areas, and adding to the pub estate.

Frederic Robinson became a private limited company in the 1920s and has remained in family hands ever since.

Today the sixth generation of the family is in control with Oliver Robinson (right) as commercial director and William Robinson running the company's pubs. The beers

Robinson's cask beers are: Hatters, 3.3% Old Stockport, 3.5% Dizzy Blonde, 3.8% Hartleys XB, 4% Cumbria Way, 4.1% Unicorn, 4.2% Double Hop, 5% Old Tom, 8.5%