Source: Blabbermouth.net

British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN have launched an online store dedicated to their new ale, Trooper beer.

The Trooper beer was officially launched on May 9 at Robinsons Brewery in Cheshire, with a reception attended by brewing trade representatives from both the U.K. and internationally.

As fans may have read recently, the unprecedented upfront demand for the beer meant Robinsons had to brew three times a day, six days a week for the first time ever in the brewery’s 175-year history to cope with pre-orders in excess of 300,000 pints. Robinsons were overwhelmed by the number of enquiries they’d had from all over the world and sent the band a comprehensive listing of whereabouts the interest had been — from a staggering 184 countries.

IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson and manager Rod Smallwood attended the trade launch, which began with Bruce conducting a tour of the brewery to explain to everyone first-hand the process of exactly how Trooper beer is made. Robinsons managing director Oliver Robinson then gave a short speech about how the IRON MAIDEN/Robinsons collaboration came about and he presented Bruce with a specially engraved brewery hand pump, in recognition of Trooper being the fastest-ever-selling new Robinsons beer. Bruce then pulled the first-ever pint of Trooper from the cask in the brewery bar amid loud applause from the assembled crowd. Everyone then got down to the serious business of tasting the beer for themselves and it was very well received judging by the number of smiling faces and approving comments heard around the room. In fact, Robinsons‘ own head brewer, Martyn Weeks, pronounced it his favorite beer, and renowned beer writer Pete Brown remarked how he found Trooper to be very good indeed and extremely drinkable.

Trooper is now available to order online throughout most of Europe, and Robinsons are working to ensure it will be available to the rest of the world as soon as possible.

For updates on when Trooper is coming to a pub, bar or supermarket in your town/country, keep checking www.ironmaidenbeer.com.

Source: Blabbermouth.net

According to The Sun, Cheshire family brewer Robinsons, where IRON MAIDEN‘s new beer, Trooper is being made, is having to work a six-day week to keep up with demand.

Over 100 countries have applied to stock the band’s special cask ale, and Robinsons, is brewing three batches a day for the first time in its 175-year history. Over a 250,000 pints have been pre-sold in the U.K. alone ahead of the May 9 release. Robinsons‘ David Bremner said: “We haven’t spent a single penny on advertising. This is history in the making for brewing.”

Real ale fan and history aficionado Bruce Dickinson, MAIDEN‘s vocalist, played a major role in developing the unique flavour of the beer, entailing ongoing visits to Robinson’s brewery in Stockport. Dickinson‘s on-stage Union Jack flag-waving military character is an iconic element of the band’s live concerts and “The Trooper”, written by bassist Steve Harris, is one of MAIDEN‘s most popular songs and one of the highlights of any MAIDEN show.

“They said why don’t you do a lager? I said no!” Dickinson told Off Licence News. “We are a quintessentially British band. If you’re going to start with something and do it properly, it should be an ale.”

When Off Licence News said it thought rock stars were all about mountains of cocaine, orgies and crates of Jack Daniels, Dickinson said: “Fuck off! I am 55. There’s no way I could go out and jump around if I was whacked out on hallucinogenics and I wouldn’t enjoy that.

“The nice thing about doing it straight is you can enjoy it.”

As a discerning beer lover, Dickinson refused to just slap the IRON MAIDEN name on a brew and sit back and count the banknotes.

“An IRON MAIDEN beer is an easy sale to make noise about but the proof is when you drink it,” he said.

“It’s easy to piggyback on someone else’s brew and we turned down many cheap and tawdry offers, people saying that we sell records so we can sell beer.”

“Trooper was the blindingly obvious thing to call it,” added Dickinson. “We have a tremendous piece of artwork — it’s one of the world’s most tattooed images. And it’s like Spitfire. It’s in the great tradition of British military prowess — well military disaster in this case.”

Robinsons has been brewing award-winning beers from its Unicorn Brewery in Stockport for 175 years. Best known for its legendary “Old Tom” strong ale, which was voted “World’s Best Beer” by the international Beers Of The World publication, it is Robinsons’ younger ales (Dizzy Blonde and “Build A Rocket Boys!” beer; produced in partnership with Manchester band ELBOW) that have lately been causing a stir in the beer world and introducing future ale drinking generations to Robinsons.

Fans of both IRON MAIDEN and real ale can sign up to get news and updates on Trooper Premium British Beer from www.ironmaidenbeer.com, where bottles will be available to purchase by both U.K. and overseas customers from May 2013.