Iron Maiden’s Trooper beer hits 1m pint mark

Robinsons Brewery has announced the production of the one millionth pint of Iron Maiden’s Trooper beer, just eight weeks after it was launched.

Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson pulls the first pint of Trooper beer

This equates to over 20,000 pints of the beer being drunk every day since its launch on 9 May, and the brewery said the mark had been reached six months ahead of schedule.

Robinsons’ managing director Oliver Robinson said: “We are amazed to reach this mark in such a short time, a million pints already is way ahead of all rational expectations, and are grateful for the support we have had from the retailers, Maiden fans, real ale enthusiasts, our distributors and the beer trade generally as they were so quick to catch on to the genuine and unique quality of this beer.

“This is a great showcase for our new brew house and demonstrates the sorts of volumes it is capable of producing. It’s very exciting to observe Trooper as it expands across Britain and then, we fully expect, internationally. It is easily the fastest selling new beer Robinsons have ever had, and quite possibly anyone else too.”

The brewery said it expected the demand for the beer to continue over the next couple of months as Trooper thanks to listings in many pub chains including Wetherspoons, Punch, Spirit and Enterprise. This all mirrors off-trade trends as the beer will be made available in more outlets due to demand.

Supermarket chain Morrisons also reported that Trooper is its fastest-ever selling newly launched ale, with sales exceeding expectations tenfold.

Mark Land, ale buyer for Morrisons 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: “No-one has ever launched a beer in the UK 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.”

Trooper was designed and developed as a top quality Premium British Beer by Iron Maiden vocalist and real ale enthusiast Bruce Dickinson with Robinsons’ Head Brewer Martyn Weeks.