Before I begin I just want to say WOW ! I've been on a few distillery and brewery tours now and the…read moreone at robinsons blew me away ! Tucked away in the back streets of central Stockport on top of the hill near the church and market you will find robinsons brewery. They have brewed beer here for decades since they upscaled out of the first robinsons pub and it is a brilliant place. They have a brand new visitors centre where you are greeted by friendly staff, light open space, wonderful displays, interactive screens and old fashioned brewery kit. You can also nip in here to buy some great gifts from their shop. You are greeted and given your free beer tokens for the end of the tour, asked to read some health and safety info as you will be wondering around a working brewery, and are then left to your own devices to explore until the tour starts. Tours are brought together in quite small numbers, there were about 15 people on our tour which was great as we could move around easily, hear the tour guide and answer questions as and when we wanted to. The tour lasts about an hour and takes you through the entire robinsons process. Be warned. The process starts at the top of the building so there are LOTS of stairs. There was a man on crutches on our tour though and he managed just fine, but if you aren't confident in your ability to navigate stairs, this unfortunately may not be for you. Once you eventually reach the top, you get an insight into old and new as they have cleverly kept all the original copper brewing kit and have installed the new kit (only since 2010 ish can you believe!) on the same floor levels. This is brilliant as you are effectively learning about two processes, old and new. You are taken down through the floors through each stage of the process, if you are feeling brave you can taste the different Malts and hops (be warned again - some of these are delicious but also some of these are Gross with a capital G) and you eventually end up in the fermenting room. A great vast room which has a beautiful strong aroma of your favourite beers, you can see the yeast working away in each of the huge vats that each batch is kept in. The tour guide we had was brilliant, she kept us all very entertained and knew the answer to every question asked. She told us all the back stories to every beer brewed by robinsons and why changes occur in the market and how robinsons react to these changes. The whole thing was really interesting and she really was very good at keeping everyone engaged, it was fab ! At the end of the tour you finish up in their own bar and restaurant. You can either select 3 1/3 pints from a selection of robinsons beer (we got to try their brand new trial beer voodoo dawn as one of our choices) or you can trade up for a glass of wine / fentimans products which are partially brewed here / tea / coffee etc. To accompany your drink they have also opened a brilliant little restaurant, it isn't huge so if you were planning on coming for a meal it may be worth booking. The menu looked great and the prices were incredibly reasonable (see the photos). We ordered a few things to share which came very quickly and everything was cooked to perfection. They try to incorporate their beers into a lot of the cooking and tend to have a different special or two on each day. If I was to come for lunch in Stockport at any point I would hands down be heading here, it is easily one of the nicest places about ! Overall 5/5. I would give it more if I could. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend to all ! Brilliant place :)

Amazing tour, worth every penny and a great rainy day activity with friends! We booked a 3.30pm…read moretour on a Saturday, and although it took a little longer than expected (about an hour and a half) it was a really enjoyable experience. The tour guide, Barry, was engaging and funny - he clearly loved his job and that enthusiasm rubbed off on everyone else. Great insights into brewing past and present, with lots of useful facts and fun stories. At the end of the tour, you get taken through to the bar where you get your choice of three 1/3 pints from the Robinsons collection, so great to try the brews Barry had talked about along the way! There is a restaurant too - menu looked tempting and reasonable prices. Finally, there's a gift shop at the end where you can buy gifts and booze - again very reasonable prices and a good selection of gift ideas. The tour costs £10 each and there's free visitor parking. Would thoroughly recommend.

If you are remotely considering a trip to Scotland to visit distilleries (be it any regions,…read moreHighland, Lowland, Speyside or Islay), you must contact Willie and Craig at Celtic legend/Whisky Tours Scotland! After doing some research on-line, I found their site and immediately contacted them to organize a tour with 8 people in the Islay region. We price compared options and their prices were right in line what one could expect finding accommodations and travel. When you factor in their tour guide service and everything else they set up, their prices were quite excellent! And the key being that they are so pleasant to deal with! Willie helped organize the Tour, and Craig was our guide. They also gave us numerous names of folks that toured with them to discuss some of their experiences. They will answer e-mail promptly. For a little background, we planned a larger scale trip that had us fly from Los Angeles to London, then flew into Glasgow (where Craig picked us up), went to Islay, were dropped off in Edinburgh by Craig, then flew to Dublin, then went back to Los Angeles. From the moment Craig picked us up at the airport in Glasgow, the tour was amazing! We spent the first part of the day venturing the countryside on our way to Islay, took the ferry to Islay, stayed the night and began the real tour in the morning! We had the most amazing tour at Laphroaig, went to Ardbeg for an amazing lunch (where the brave of us tried haggis and lamb burgers that were delicious!) , then went to see ruins of the oldest church in Islay (which was uniquely beautiful) and we concluded our tour day with a fun tour at Lagavulin. We then had some delicious dinner at Bridgend. The next day had us go to Bruichladdich, then off to Finlaggin to see the amazing ruins by the sea, then to Kilchomen for some tasty food for lunch, and lastly to Bowmore for the grand finale! The last day was a travel day to Edinburgh, where Craig stopped at many spots along the way for all of us to soak in. Craig was the kindest and nicest guide one could ask for! He was very tolerant of all the odd personalities of our tour group, me especially! We planned out our trip for about 9 months before actually going. We went this past July 2011. Be prepared to pay some deposits to lock in an amazing stay. I simply cannot recommend Celtic legend/Whisky Tours Scotland enough to anyone considering such a trek! Please look Willie and Craig up! They will treat you well! All of us in our group cannot thank them enough for the most amazing experience! (...and a few of the people in the group don't even drink!)