According to The Local, Sweden's state run liquor store monopoly Systembolaget has halted the launch of a beer from IRON MAIDEN due to legal concerns over the skull and crossbones motif on the label.

"There has been a discussion about the label. The alcohol law stipulates how it can look. We therefore don't yet know when it can be launched," said Therese Elmgren at Systembolaget to the Aftonbladet daily.

The label on the beer's packaging is taken from the UK rockers' single The Trooper which was released in 1983.

"We can't accept the label, it's against Sweden's alcohol laws," Systembolaget spokesman Lennart Agén told The Local at the time.

Trooper beer was officially launched yesterday (May 10th) at Robinsons Brewery in Cheshire, with a reception attended by brewing trade representatives from both the UK and Internationally. As fans may have read recently, the unprecedented upfront demand for the beer meant Robinsons had to brew three times a day, six days a week for the first time ever in the Brewery’s 175 year history to cope with pre-orders in excess of 300,000 pints. Robinsons were overwhelmed by the number of enquiries they’d had from all over the world and sent us a comprehensive listing of whereabouts the interest had been – from a staggering 184 countries! So, a big thanks to all our fans and it’s great to know the Maiden family extends into so many places where the band have never even had a chance to play before.

Bruce and Rod attended the Trade Launch, which began with Bruce conducting a tour of the Brewery to explain to everyone first-hand the process of exactly how Trooper beer is made. Robinsons Managing Director Oliver Robinson then gave a short speech about how the Iron Maiden/Robinsons collaboration came about and he presented Bruce with a specially engraved Brewery hand pump, in recognition of Trooper being the Fastest Ever Selling New Robinsons Beer. Bruce then pulled the first-ever pint of Trooper from the cask in the Brewery bar amid loud applause from the assembled crowd. Everyone then got down to the serious business of tasting the beer for themselves and it was very well received judging by the number of smiling faces and approving comments heard around the room. In fact Robinsons’ own head brewer, Martyn Weeks pronounced it his favourite beer, and renowned beer writer Pete Brown remarked how he found Trooper to be very good indeed and extremely drinkable.

Trooper is now available to order online throughout most of the EU, and Robinsons are working flat-out to ensure it will be available to the rest of the world as soon as possible. For updates on when Trooper is coming to a pub, bar or supermarket in your town/country keep checking Ironmaidenbeer.com or follow IronMaidenBeer on Facebook or Twitter.

To find out more about just how much the Trooper beer impacted on Robinsons brewery business, visit their here.

See more photos at this location.

In the video footage below, Bruce Dickinson explains the difference between draught Trooper and bottled Trooper: