Allsopp’s, the revived Burton-upon-Trent brewer once synonymous with the rise of India Pale Ale, has entered the stout category with the launch of a nitro stout aimed at reasserting an English presence in one of beer’s fastest-growing markets.
The release marks the first permanent addition to the brewery’s core range since the historic brand was revived by Jamie Allsopp, a direct descendant of the founding family, in 2021. It also comes amid continued growth in stout sales driven by the popularity of Guinness and a wider resurgence in pub culture following the pandemic.
The beer will launch officially at The Blue Stoops in Kensington in early June – the Victorian pub restored by the Allsopp’s team in 2024 as part of the brewery’s wider revival project.
Despite stout’s surging popularity, Allsopp said the new beer was not conceived as a response to trend-led craft brewing, but more as a continuation of the brewery’s own historic relationship with dark beer.
He said: “Allsopp’s first brewed stout was more than 100 years ago, so this was not about jumping on any bandwagon. Our ambition was to create a distinctly English stout with its own character, its own story, and one that puts English brewing’s prominence in the history of stout back in the spotlight.
“People understandably associate Allsopp’s with pale ale and IPA because those beers changed brewing history, but the brewery also produced dark Burton ales and stout for generations. There’s a tendency now to speak about stout as though it belongs exclusively to one Irish tradition, when in reality England had an extraordinarily rich stout culture of its own.”
The stout has been brewed in partnership with Leeds-based Kirkstall Brewery using a recipe informed by Allsopp’s surviving brewing ledgers – leather-bound volumes rediscovered during the company’s revival containing handwritten brewing records dating back centuries.
Designed as a nitro stout ‘for enjoyers of proper stout’, the beer has a malt-forward profile with notes of cocoa, roasted coffee and bitter chocolate, finishing clean and dry. Brewed with Goldings hops, the stout is vegan-friendly and bottled at 4.4% ABV. Allsopp’s has deliberately favoured balance and restraint over more aggressive contemporary stout styles.
He said: “All our beers are inspired by the recipes in those historic ledgers, but taste evolves, and so do ingredients. The question is how you preserve the spirit and integrity of a beer while making something people genuinely want to drink today.
“There’s richness and texture there, but it still finishes cleanly. It’s designed to be the sort of pint people want to order again.
“We wanted elegance and drinkability above all else. The best stout has a kind of quiet confidence to it, it’s undeniably English in its origins and tastes closer to how stout would have done in the 1960s. The result is quite spectacular.”
The launch also reflects growing confidence around the revived Allsopp’s brand, which has steadily rebuilt its profile through its core beer range and the opening of The Blue Stoops in Kensington,
Formerly a restaurant and wine bar, the west London site was restored over several years into what Allsopp describes as a traditional Victorian pub, complete with cask ale engines, breweriana, dark timber interiors and a purpose-built cellar focused on traditional beer service.
Allsopp said: “There has been a real swing back towards pubs that feel authentic and rooted. People are tired of places that could be anywhere.”
The launch of the stout will be celebrated at a special event at The Blue Stoops alongside oysters and a dedicated pairing menu, referencing the historic relationship between stout and shellfish in British pub culture.
The new Allsopp’s Stout is now available on draught at The Blue Stoops and The Latimer Bar & Kitchen, with wider on-trade rollout planned later this year.
