Robert Roberts Topping was born in New York City.  His father was Thomas Topping, a brewer in that city.  At a young age Robert was drawn to the fighting in the Civil War, and enlisted in Company A, 9th Infantry on his 16th birthday.  He was taken prisoner at Antietam on September 17, 1862 and paroled, and later exchanged, but never again reported for duty.

He was apparently seeking refuge in his father's brewery, who may have paid off authorities to keep him from being turned in, as in 1863 Topping's status was changed from "Deserter" to "Missing In Action".  Nonetheless Robert Topping survived the war and became intimate with the art of brewing.

In 1874 Topping and Elam Hull formed a brewery in New Haven, Connecticut.  It is unknown if this was in competition with or in conjunction with the other Hull family brewery in town. Their partnership lasted for about four years before Topping left to ply his trade in breweries in Albany and Philadelphia.  In 1901 Topping moved to Amsterdam, New York and began the gentleman's passtime of raising fancy poultry.  He died on January 20th, 1906, aged 60 years.