REVIEW: Robinson's Brewery Trooper

TL;DR summary :  Don’t Run to the Hills, be a Trooper and give it a try! (Yes, I went there.)

Beer style: Golden Ale

ABV 4.7%

What I paid: 5.99

How it came (packaging): 500 ml bottle

Links: http://www.robinsonsbrewery.com/, http://www.ironmaidenbeer.com/

About the Beer:

My inner eighth grader has been eyeing this particular bottle of beer for a few weeks. I was able to resist, but this weekend was my birthday weekend, so I figured, “what the heck?” Trooper comes from Robinson’s Brewery in the UK, at Unicorn Brewery in Stockport Cheshire, to be exact. Admittedly, I have very little knowledge of English brewers or the English brewing business, so I’m not entirely sure if that is a good thing or not. I will say that the brewery website is extensive and has a lot of really fascinating info. There’s also a site dedicated solely to Trooper, which in a bizarre way is a relief, because none of the friendly, smiling people on the main web site appear to be the sort who would voluntarily hang out with a metal band.  Then again, what do I know? Things are different in the UK.

Trooper, as suggested by the URL for the web site, and, well, the label on the bottle, was inspired by the Iron Maiden song and created in collaboration with Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden’s front man, and a generally very interesting person. There’s a nice little video of Dickinson talking about the beer on the site, which describes the beer as having malt flavors with citric notes and a slight hint of lemon.

Color/appearance: golden amber, thin white head

Aroma:  sweet, slightly fruity.  Carmel

Mouth feel: slick, thin

Flavor: bitter. Sweet malty background, hint of citrus. Finishes clean

Notes:

The beer is light bodied, bitter. Reminds me of Old Style. It feels like a bowling alley beer, reminds me of cigarettes and pizza. But in a good way. Wouldn’t be terrible with spicy food. It’s a pretty straight forward beer. Not fancy, not pretentious, just beer, as the English and Iron Maiden meant it to be, apparently.

Summary:

I wanted to dislike this beer. I wanted to be able to make puns based on Iron Maiden lyrics. It didn’t happen.  This is a decent beer. Not fancy, straight forward, but decent. As I said in the notes above, it conjures up images of my youth that are long gone. I’m not sure how common this beer is anywhere, but it’s worth giving a try if you can get your hands on it, and for more than just the label.

Rating : 3

Scale: 

1 – avoid

2 – if it’s the only choice, I guess

3 – a decent beer. Drinkable.

4 – good beer – hard to turn down

5 – great beer - One of my favorites, pour me another.