A proper brand history
We've been through a lot over the last three centuries.
Like we said: a lot. But, to explain all that, we need to go back to where it all started.
Burton-on-trent
1730
BURTON FROM THE EAST – 1732 1730The first drop of bona fide Allsopp family beer is brewed in Burton-on-Trent – the beer capital of Britain – by Benjamin Wilson Sr.
LETTER WRITTEN BY BENJAMIN WILSON. NOW AMONG HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS KEPT AT BURTON 1742To expand operations, Wilson Sr, bought the Blue Stoops Inn Brewery, a brewery described as “so old, no one ever heard of its having a beginning.”
1750Our beer was really catching on, but not just at home. Our strong Burton beer was big in Imperial Russia too, braving the 2000 mile trip to St. Petersburg to become a firm favourite of the Tsar’s court.
- 1778
James Allsopp marries Anne Wilson, Benjamin’s daughter. Two years later, they have a son, Samuel. Now things are getting interesting.
1800Samuel was invited to join the business, with high hopes for making a name for himself. He buys and renames it after himself in 1807.
1806Samuel’s ambitious plans are… somewhat hampered, by one Napoleon Bonaparte. Ably assisted by the largest army the world had yet seen, he blockades British exports for six years. Drat.
THE EARLIEST KNOWN ALLSOPP’S LABEL. CIRCA 1840. 
INDIA PALE ALE CONTAINED MORE HOPS – IMPROVING ON THE 6 MONTH VOYAGE TO INDIA. 1822After years in the doldrums, Samuel’s fortunes started to turn. And then, he perfected a little beer called India Pale Ale. In a teapot. Which changed everything.
THE COMPANY’S FIRST CHEMIST. HEINRICH WILHELM BOTTINGER JOINED ALLSOPP’S IN 1845. 
PHOTOGRAPHS OF YEAST FROM THE ALLSOPP’S LABORATORY IN 1885. 1845Bolstered by our refreshed taste for innovation, Allsopp’s creates the first brewery laboratory to discover more, where IPA came from.
QUEEN VICTORIA,
THE BRAINS BEHIND ALLSOPP'S ARCTIC ALE.
AFTER THE FIRST EXPEDITION IN 1851 ALLSOPP’S BREWED ARCTIC ALE FOR FURTHER THREE EXPEDITIONS.
FEW BOTTLES STILL EXIST, ONE OF WHICH LIVES IN OUR ARCHIVES.1851To aid in the search for a lost Arctic expedition, Queen Victoria asks the brewers of Burton to create a scurvy-preventing, life-sustaining ale for the voyage. The lab immediately pays off, as Allsopp’s win the contract.
- 1859
As business continued to boom after the great India Pale Ale experiment, Allsopp’s built Britain’s largest brewery, to meet demand from all over the world.
PUNCH WASN’T A FAN. 
SAMUEL CHARLES ALLSOPP MP (THE SECOND OF HIS NAME) IN VANITY FAIR, 1885. LIKED HIS BEER. CLEANED UP NICELY. 1876The Red Right Hand is registered as a trademark for Samuel Allsopp & Sons for the very first time – a symbol made to stop people in their tracks, with the promise of ale in the finest condition.
“I’VE ONLY HAD THE ONE, HONEST.” 
1888Producing an enormous 460,000 barrels of beer a year, with a workforce of 1,750, Samuel Allsopp & Son’s decides to go public. What could go wrong?
HOW THE MIGHTY FALL. 
BITTER, INDEED. 1890Uh… quite a lot as it happened. Poor business decisions ensure investors go from scuffles at the door to buy shares, to demanding their money back.
THE PURPOSE BUILT LAGER BREWERY. 
PERCY ALLSOPP 1861–1927 
A SMALL SELECTION OF THE DIFFERENT DESIGNS FOR ALLSOPP’S LAGER OVER THE AGES. 1896Enter Percy. In an attempt to turn things around, he travels across Germany to educate himself about the art of lager – the beer of the future. He promptly invests in a state-of-the art brewery, made to brew 60,000 barrels of lager beer.
“THE BEST DRINK UNDER THE SUN”, OR THE DRINK THAT FLEW TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN? 
ALLSOPP’S SEASIDE RESORT. WHY NOT? 
A diehard believer in the maxim “go big or go home”, Percy went all out. Blimps. Slogans. Playing cards. You name it, he tried it.
MR. JOHN J. CALDER – A GREAT BUSINESSMAN. YOU CAN IMAGINE THIS CHAP WAS THE ONE DOING THE “INVITING”. 
ALLSOPP’S PURCHASES IT’S FIRST 2 HALLEY MOTOR LORRIES IN 1913. 1911Try as he might, it turns out no one wants Percy’s lager. We’re half a century too early. Financial disaster strikes and the Allsopp family are, ahem, “invited” to leave the day-to-day management of the company.
1953 – FILM STARS DINAH SHERIDAN AND DIRK BOGARDE ENJOY A REFRESHMENT DURING THE FILMING OF ‘APPOINTMENT IN LONDON’. 
1934Ind Coope & Allsopp is formed from the merger of the two breweries, most famous for its bottles of Double Diamond pale ale.
1959Though the company is flying high again, alas, the Allsopp’s flag, does not. Our name disappears from the beers and bars. Our
assets steadily sold off. Our fabled recipes, seemingly lost to the sands of time.
Until Now
2021
Jamie Allsopp, great-great-great-great- great-grandson of Samuel, finds the only remaining ledger containing the original recipes. It’s a red letter day.
So he sets about resurrecting the original Allsopp’s yeast and – in-keeping with the Allsopp family knack for exceptional timing – begins brewing again in the middle of a global pandemic.
OUR MOST DECORATED INDIA PALE ALE LABEL FROM 1888 WAS THE MAIN SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR OUR REFRESHED TYPOGRAPHY. 
When we dusted off our old recipe books for our phoenix like revival, we had some tough decisions to make on what to brew first.
Ultimately, the beers chose themselves. The Pale Ale which made our name. The India Pale Ale we made our own. And a lager, that we’ve got unfinished business with.
All modern classics.
A modern classic beer deserves a modern classic label. That’s why we delved into our near-bottomless design archive to meticulously craft each and every element of our new beer labels to look as authentic and fresh as they have been for centuries.
OUR REDRAWN COMPANY SIGNATURE IS INSPIRED BY THAT OF THE FIRST ALLSOPP’S INDIA PALE ALE LABEL FROM 1840. 
A SMALL SELECTION OF HANDS FROM THE ARCHIVES. NO TWO WERE EVER THE SAME. 
THESE BOTTLE TOPS FROM OUR 1875 ARCTIC ALE BOTTLES CLEANED UP A TREAT!
All for the taste
That's why Samuel Allsopp got out of bed in the morning. To brew great-tasting beer, the right way, for beer lovers everywhere. And, as it turns out, the hop doesn't fall far from the bine. 291 years since our founding, 62 years since our vanishing, Allsopp & Sons is back. Back brewing beer for people who love beer. People, like you. Cheers.
