Dickinson only here for the beer

Bruce Dickinson will crown Britain's best beer at a national awards ceremony tomorrow.

The Iron Maiden frontman and real ale enthusiast will be at the Great British Beer Festival in London to crown the winner of the Champion Beer of Britain competition, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale.

Considered the top prize in British beer, the award is the culmination of 12 months of local, regional and national competition, with the final beers being judged by a panel of experts, journalists and Campaign for Real Ale representatives in the final tomorrow, before the winner is announced at 3pm.

Dickinson, who released his own successful beer called Trooper last year, says: “As a dedicated ale drinker myself, I was very aware of the many great beers available and the extremely high level of competition we faced.

“For Trooper to have grabbed people’s imagination and taste buds right from the very start has given us all a real sense of satisfaction and I’m much looking forward to spending time at Olympia with fellow real ale enthusiasts. I am also very proud to be asked to announce the Champion Beer of Britain award – especially amongst such great company.”

Trooper sold more than one million pints in its first year.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.