Motörhead’s First Pour: the story behind the original Bastards Lager
- Tim McShane
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
Fermented Metal Magazine | Contributor - Tim McShane
When Motörhead launched Bastards Lager in June 2012, it was more than a band beer with a loud label. It was the first serious attempt to turn the group’s hard-drinking mythology into an actual beer release, and it arrived with more structure behind it than a simple licensing stunt. The lager was named after the band’s 1993 album Bastards, brewed in Sweden by Krönleins Bryggeri, and initially sold through Systembolaget, Sweden’s state alcohol retail system.
Inception: A Band, a Brand, and a Swedish Festival
By the early 2010s, Motörhead had already dipped a steel-toed boot into the beverage trade. In 2010 the band released Motörhead Shiraz, produced with Australia's Broken Back Winery, followed by vodka and whisky SKUs. But none of those felt quite right for a band whose off-stage reputation was built, famously, on bourbon and cans of whatever was closest. A beer was the obvious gap, and Lemmy, Phil Campbell, and Mikkey Dee wanted it done properly rather than slapped onto a generic contract brew.
The vehicle was Brands For Fans, the Swedish licensing agency founded by Sari H. Wilholm and Yvonne Wener that specialises in pairing rock acts with domestic producers. Brands For Fans had already brokered the Motörhead Shiraz deal, and it became the connective tissue between the band and the brewery.
The name was a deliberate nod to Bastards, Motörhead's 1993 studio album — the first record with drummer Mikkey Dee and a fan-cherished entry in the catalogue. Choosing it for the maiden beer release signalled that this was a product for the faithful, not a tourist souvenir.
How the Brewery Got Involved
The brewing partner was Krönleins Bryggeri, a family-run independent in Halmstad on Sweden's west coast, founded in 1836. Krönleins had two qualities that mattered to the project: a long lager pedigree and the flexibility of an independent producer willing to develop a recipe to spec rather than rebadge an existing beer. The brewery is perhaps best known outside its own lineup for producing the house-branded beers sold at IKEA, giving it genuine experience with large licensed partnerships.
Working with Brands For Fans and the band, Krönleins developed a 4.7% ABV pale lager built for the Motörhead audience — "fresh and fruity… with a wonderful character of light malt," in Yvonne Wener's description at launch, "easy to drink but with a hard rock edge." It arrived in 330 ml bottles, priced at SEK 19.90 a bottle, and was sold through Sweden's state alcohol monopoly Systembolaget, available by the 24-bottle case on special order.
First-Edition Reach
At launch, Bastards Lager was a Sweden-only release — a constraint the team was open about, while flagging hopes of a wider rollout. Motörhead and Brands For Fans billed it publicly as "the world's first real rock beer," a claim picked up by Blabbermouth, Loudwire, BraveWords, and The Drinks Business in the days around Sweden Rock 2012. Whether or not that superlative holds up to strict scrutiny, the first edition did something more important: it proved that a properly brewed, band-backed lager could sell on the merits of the liquid, not just the logo — paving the way for Motörhead's later beer work, including the 2015 Röad Crew session pale ale with England's Camerons Brewery.
Fact Sheet
Product: Motörhead Bastards Lager (1st edition)
Launch: June 2012, Sweden Rock Festival
Brewery: Krönleins Bryggeri, Halmstad, Sweden (est. 1836)
Licensor: Brands For Fans (Sweden)
Style / ABV: Pale lager, 4.7% ABV
Format: 330 ml bottle
Original market: Sweden only, via Systembolaget
Name origin: Album release Bastards (Motörhead, 1993)
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