Are any of their ales available in US? I had their Old Tom, probably the best ale I ever had. So how did I get it? A friend brot a single bottle back in his suitcase on a biz trip to jolly old England.
Old Tom (plus the ginger version) used to be imported to the US years ago... but I don't think that's still the case. These days, you can only buy beers in their Iron Maiden (Trooper) product line in the US as far as I know. They've made a bunch of beers in that product line.
Yeah, the importer, Artisanal Imports, still lists the brewery as one of theirs, but only list those heavy metal brands. https://artisanalimports.com/portfolio/robinsons/
Just sent email to Artisanal. Hoping it's simply a matter that they forgot to include Old Tom among their selections on the Website
People will probably tell you to buy other beers listed as "English strong ale" on BA as a substitute (which is how it's categorized here rather than as a barley wine), but in my opinion there's almost nothing really on the shelves in the US today in either BA category (barley wine, strong ale) that are like Old Tom. We've drifted away from such beers, both in terms of US brewed beer and in terms of available imports. I was going to tell you to try a Samuel Smith Stingo if you find one... but when I looked at the Merchant du Vin product finder, I realized that they took Stingo off their site ( @jesskidden ). You can use their product finder to try Tynt Meadow, but I find that beer to be way more herbal than Old Tom (it's a really cool beer though). I think that fruity Belgian brown beers might have more in common with Old Tom than contemporary US brewed ales (even though they wouldn't be a substitute).
Their Trooper Fear of the Dark was darn good. I had it less than 2 years ago so maybe it's still available?
If they tell you that they do not import Old Tom as it does not fit the branding of the beers they do import from Robinsons, tell them Old Tom was the seventh tomcat of a seventh tomcat.
Stingo is available at the local place that stocks all the Samuel Smith stuff out my way. The stock was refreshed sometime in the last 3 or 4 months too
I loved Stingo. When we had it in town, it was priced the same as the other SS offerings. What a bargain it twas.
Next time you're there, please check the dates and report back if you can. I'd be interested in finding out if they are old stock. In this sample code for S. Smith: SK14Q1, the Q position is the year. Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet, so it's a 2017 beer. If that code is still accurate, then 2022 is V and 2023 is W. If I remember correctly, I had a terrible time in 2022 trying to determine if the letter on bottles was a U or V. The font can make those two letters tough to distinguish... but the difference was fresh-ish beer or last year's brew. I would always try to find an old bottle on the shelf to help with the ID. The problems of a beer nerd.
I wasn't too impressed with the Trooper offering. I want to try the Imperial version of Fear of the Dark, if I can't ever find any. I too miss SS Stingo. I should have drunk more of it when it was available. Who knew it would vanish with the wind? The Old Tom sounds to be a pretty epic brew. It's a shame that it's no longer available around here.
Got an email today from Artisanal Imports, informing me that Old Tom Ale is definitely not being exported to the United States. Not astute marketers, for sure. The person who sent me the email could have recommended one of the other Robinson offerings, but did not. Maybe she could get a job with Anheuser Busch. Dope.
