IRON MAIDEN's Beer Being Sold At U.K.'s House Of Commons Bar

IRON MAIDEN's new ale, the Trooper beer, is being sold at the bar in Britan's House Of Commons to members of Parliament.

The Trooper, which was officially launched on May 9 at Robinsons Brewery in Cheshire, features packaging that is based on that artwork for IRON MAIDEN's single "The Trooper", released in 1983.

As part of a tradition to promote relatively unknown British ales, Strangers' Bar in the House Of Commons features "guest ales" throughout the year. Mike Weatherley, a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) and founder of Rock The House, Parliament's biggest music competition, recently nominated Trooper.

Says Weatherley: "As an IRON MAIDEN fan and an MP, it is a real treat to have this specialist ale as one of the guest ales in parliament — the fact that I also get to try it for the first time on my birthday is just a bonus. The guest ales program is an excellent way of drawing attention to small and independent beers from around the U.K. and I would encourage any local brewers who would like opportunity to have their product showcased in parliament to get in touch."

IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson said: "I'm a lifelong fan of traditional English ale; I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when we were asked to create our own beer. I have to say that I was very nervous: Robinsons are the only people I have had to audition for in 30 years. Their magic has been to create the alchemical wedding of flavor and texture that is Trooper. I love it."

U.K. national supermarket chain Morrissons recently revealed that Trooper was its fastest-ever-selling newly launched ale, with sales exceeding expectations tenfold.

Mark Land, Morrisons ales buyer, said: "Trooper has been phenomenally successful since Morrisons launched it four weeks ago. The bottle's label has definitely been a huge factor in its success as has the push our stores have given it."

Robinsons marketing director David Bremner added: "Looking at the customer journey, Trooper is truly unique; it literally drives fans into their nearest pub or supermarket. Fans find the beer, take a photo and post it on Facebook. This drives more fans to the store who clear the shelves and post a photo of an empty shelf. People are driving miles to pubs to sample the draught which is rolling out across the country in a remarkably quick time. The publicans are finding the positive reaction to the beer is creating a lot of demand from their regulars. And what is also unparalleled and truly remarkable here is that this has all been achieved by word of mouth and online. It just shows that, like most things, at the end of the day, it is the quality that counts."

Last year, Robinsons produced 13.3 million pints of beer in total. If the first eight weeks of production and sales of Trooper are anything to go by, the Cheshire family brewers could quite possibly double the volume of beer they produce in a year.

David continued: "No one has ever launched a beer in the U.K. with this much potential. The demand continues to expand as whenever people taste it, they just want more. This is purely down to the quality of the ale and the great taste. The 'problem' we have is forecasting quantities for production of Trooper, but what a great challenge to have. On top of that, we have had interest and enquiries for Trooper from 184 countries and together with Sovereign, our international distributor, we are currently planning Trooper's worldwide expansion and dealing with the import/export bureaucracy. MAIDEN's global following is immense and in all corners of the planet so we are focusing on the wonderful opportunity of making this a global beer, which would be a truly remarkable feat for a genuine British ale."