Rock and Roll Beer

A few days ago I blogged on Queen's new beer, Bohemian Rhapsody lager, but there are another seven rock and roll stars who have created their own beer.

As thousands of music fans leave Glastonbury, burdened by heavy backpacks and wheeling small trollies that were once stuffed with loo rolls and cases of beer, there’s a good chance that the beer they were supping could have been inspired by the artist they are listening to. These days, there are as many beers being brewed by rock and roll legends as there are musical genres – lagers, ales, wheat beers, hoppy brews, stronger beers for sipping slowly. And the musicians who have joined the Queen might surprise you.

Trooper, 4.8%

Heavy metal rockers Iron Maiden, who have sold more than 90 million albums, put their name to a beer which proved to be Stockport brewer Robinsons greatest hit. The Trooper, which pays homage to one of the band’s best loved live stage songs, is powered by three powerful hops, Bobek, Goldings, and Cascade, which makes the golden beer sing with citrus flavours. The band’s front man Bruce Dickinson played a major part in developing the beer, even taking time out of rehearsals to help brew it. Available from ironmaidenbeer.com and in pubs and supermarkets nationally.

Build a Rocket Boys!, 4%

Lancashire favourites Elbow produced a beer to coincide with their fifth album. Build a Rocket Boys! was launched in 2011 in collaboration with another northern favourite, Robinsons Brewery. Last year, after selling more than 750,000 pints and raising more than £40,000 for Oxfam, the band decided it was going to be last orders for the easy drinking, malty beer. So anyone finding the beer still on sale in an off-licence could be looking at a collector’s item. Visit elbow.co.uk for more on the band.

Gladness, 4.2%

The band Madness were said to have been inspired to make their own beer while drinking in the pub where they performed their first gigs in north London, the Dublin Castle. Brewed by one of London’s new wave of breweries Portobello, it’s a crisp, easy drinking lager, which tastes like liquid bread with refreshing citrus overtones from the hops. It’s currently available in bottles and cans. Visit madness.co.uk for details of the beer’s availability.

Fuzzy, 8.5%

Welsh rockers Super Furry Animals turned to craft brewers Celt Experience when they wanted to produce their own beer for a festival in Caerphilly. The beer which is named after their 1996 debut, Fuzzy Logic, is a funky combination of styles. A Welsh ale which has been fermented with a saison yeast, it has a pronounced citrus aroma and a hint of pleasant sourness. The beer, like the band, is currently being rested. Visit celtexperience.com for details of the company’s other brews.

Believe, 4.8%

Folk singer Frank Turner says he writes his songs to be sung in bars. Well, he can now drink his own bottled beer while crooning. His brew Believe is an English twist on a Belgian wheat beer, with orange citrus flavours and swathes of spice. Brewed by Hackney hipsters Signature Brew, the beer is one of several music-inspired collaborations the company produces. Visit signaturebrew.co.uk for availability details.

The General, 3.9%

The General is another beer from Signature Brew, which was created after rock band The Rifles visited the brewery. Signature Brew director Sam McGregor said: “The band got really involved in the process, which is represented in the quality of the beer and the brilliant label artwork they produced.” The crisp, wheat beer was created as antidote to the thousands of dull insipid lagers the band members had drunk while touring the country. Visit signaturebrew.co.uk for availability details.

Dogfish Head American Beauty, 10.7%

Next time you're listening to one of the Grateful Dead’s greatest albums, 1970's American Beauty, try drinking the beer name after it. Dogfish Head’s American Beauty is a fulsome imperial pale ale, which was brewed using the hippies' favourite breakfast cereal, granola. The amber-coloured beer stars swirling flavours of honey, oats and fruit. Sadly, the beer is currently not sold in the UK but visit dogfish.com for information on where it can be bought.