The Trooper moved a million pints in its first eight weeks to become Robinsons’ fastest-selling beer ever; so far it’s reached more than 30 countries, and exports passed the million mark earlier this month. David Davies, managing director of Robinsons’ exporter, Sovereign Beverage, says the launch is “the most successful we have ever seen from the UK.” The Trooper’s dedicated website (ironmaidenbeer.com) and Twitter account (twitter.com/IronMaidenBeer) don’t mention Robinsons or even the beer’s proper name in their URLs—a pretty clear demonstration of the power of the Iron Maiden brand.
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- I usually use my trusty Hopleaf tulip for these shoots. But last week I dropped it in the sink.
Unfortunately there’s less going on once you get the beer in your mouth. I taste toasted grains, toffee, and honey, but the complexity in the malts gets kinda bum rushed by the grassy, peppery hops. (The label identifies them as Goldings, Cascade, and Bobec, by which it probably means Bobek.) Despite its rich, almost desserty aroma, the Trooper has a surprisingly bitter, dry, biscuity finish, with flavors of rye cracker and hard-water minerals.
Now then. I reckon it’s finally time to listen to some Maiden. Founding bassist Steve Harris wrote “The Trooper” about an 1854 Crimean war battle near Balaclava, which Lord Tennyson had already immortalized with his poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade”—both describe an assault by 600 British cavalry, who were gallantly if suicidally following a misconstrued order and galloped into massed Russian artillery, suffering horrific casualties.
Lastly, this is a promo video for the Trooper that features Dickinson farting around at Robinsons’ Unicorn Brewery. Another fun fact: he’s also a licensed commercial airline pilot, and flies a specially chartered Boeing 757 christened “Ed Force One” on Iron Maiden’s international tours.
