Beermat of the Week

Robinwood Brewery and its Old Fart

If a brewery launched today with a flagship beer called Old Fart then eyebrows would be raised. What might be called 'Beer Twitter' would be apoplectic with indignation.

But the past, they say, is a foreign country and so we come to the story of Robinwood Brewery, or Robinwood Brewers & Vintners to give it its full name. 

The brewery was started in 1988 in old commercial premises not far from the Staff of Life pub on Burnley Road in Todmorden. I did visit and seem to recall the premises may have been a garage at one time.

It was set up by Freddie Sleap, owner of the Staff of Life, and Tim Fritchley, who was the brewer. Several regular beers were produced including a hoppy Best Bitter (4.1%) and maltier XB (4.7%) alongside the famous Old Fart at 6%. This was described in the 1991 Good Beer Guide as:

"Dark brown in colour, with a fruity and slightly malty aroma. Roasted malt in the vinous, sweet and fruity taste, with some caramel and hoppy bitterness coming through. A malty, dry finish. Also available as Old XXXX on request."

Despite the silly name it wasn't a bad beer. The same Good Beer Guide records that two tied houses were supplied along with a growing free trade. Old Fart had also been produced in bottle-conditioned form.  

You'd think everything was looking rosy but it all came to a halt in 1993 when brewing ceased. Well, not quite everything came to a halt.

After Robinwood bit the dust, Hunslet-based Marpak Group offered the chance to brew again to Tim Fritchley, who had acquired the rights to the Old Fart name. And so, in March 1994 brewing started under the Merrimans Brewery (or Hunslet Breweries) name at Marpak House in Hunslet (which I am sure you all know  is near Leeds). 

The 1996 Good Beer Guide records that Merrimans, whose sole beer was Old Fart (now reduced to 5%), concentrated on bottling - with an eye on the export market - but produced a cask version for 40 local outlets.  The 1999 GBG simply records "brewery closed".

However Old Fart lived one and was subsequently contract-brewed. I certainly recall seeing it on supermarket shelves in the past few years. Whether it's still available in the UK I don't know but it's certainly still being reviewed on Ratebeer  which also tells us that it's now being brewed at Robinsons!  Which is rather close to home.