263 weeks is a long time in blockchain land so let's celebrate with Maltese Beer!
I became a beer blogger naturally due to years I have spent brewing for myself, working with breweries on their technology and marketing, and the decades spent imbibing. Hence, the self-decreed title of the #Blockchain #Beerologist and I am cranking up my Beerology game this year.
This week, I am back from my trip to Malta and will take you through a tour of their most popular beers.
Cisk!
This is, by far, Malta's most iconic and popular beer and I enjoyed this one in Birgu, Malta. Visiting their website at https://cisk.com/en/our-story/the-story-of-cisk is like attending a history class. You can imagine when the story starts exactly 1 week before the global stock market crash of 1929, just before probition in North America, and helping a nation of wine-drinkers discover wonderful beer.
The Scicluna family launched the brewery back then to compete with Simmons Farson's limited and the rest is delicious history. This accounts for the namesake which started as ic-Cisk.
Approximately 19 years ago, when I fist visited Malta, Cisk was the first bee thrust happily into my hands by the locals. If I wanted beer, they said, all I had to do was say Lager, even in my hoser accent, and I would be rewarded with a Cisk despite the language difference. As you can see, it pours clean and clear with a beautiful golden hue. It rocks only 4.3% ABV which is fairly typical of the mainstream beers in equatorial countries known for predominantly hot, dry and sunny conditions.
I enjoyed this cool treat by the Blue Grotto https://www.google.com/maps/place/Zurrieq,+Malta/ on the east coast of Malta on the outskirts of Zurrieq.
I will have to give this one my patented seal of approval right out of the gate. I switched from drinking great beer to lotsa beer because there is no craft beer movement her but quickly fell in love with this one. The taste of Malta will always bring back happy memories even though it is near impossible to find it back home.
HopLeaf
Before this trip, if you asked me to name beers from Malta, I would have named Cisk first and Hopleaf second. Farsons Brewery https://www.farsonsclassicbrews.com/history was formed about a year before Cisk brewery back in 1928. 20 years later in 1948, they merged with the aforementioned Cisk brewery to become Simonds Farsons Cisk Limited. Makes sense that a couple smaller breweries on a small island 90 KM from Sicily would merge to become a local giant and a larger dot on the global beer map.
I enjoyed both of these beers in Bugibba, Malta https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bugibba,+St+Paul's+Bay,+Malta in a restaurant on the shores of St. Paul's Bay. The area and bay are named as such as lore attests that St. Paul himself shipwrecked on an island just off the coast a couple centuries ago.
Hopleaf https://www.farsons.com/en/hopleaf itself is a little darker/maltier than Cisk and is much more tasty. It was among the fist beers brewed back in 1928. While it claims to be bitter with the classic English hops, my obsession with IPAs has blasted that notion and I wouldn't call this bitter by any comparison. Truly the best locally brewer beer I had and would steal the seal of approval from Cisk if it was more readily available.
Blue Label
This is yet another brew by Farson's https://www.farsonsclassicbrews.com/ which built its newest brewery in Mriehel, June, 1950 after its merger with Cisk. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Farsons+Brewery/ It keeps getting updated and improved but sticks to its classic brews with the strong, historic branding.
I found Blue Label https://www.farsonsclassicbrews.com/blue-label on tap in an English pub in the capital city of Valetta https://www.google.com/maps/place/Valletta,+Malta The way this town of only 7,000 residents merges modern with historic is mind-blowing for a westerner. Shops and restaurants and pubs find homes in buildings built back in the 1500s
The beer itself is a nitro brew meaning it has much smaller bubbles and the texture of a Guinness. Much lighter flavoured though and a modest 4.7 ABV makes it that classic light english pale ale with the smooth texture and that beautiful slightly sour watery taste. Refreshing and best enjoyed in large gulps.
Skol
The only other beer I was able to find in every corner store in the place was not really a Maltese beer in origin. It falls under Brands We Support and brewed by Farson's though it is a Calsberg brand https://www.carlsberggroup.com/products/skol/skol/ It rocks only 4% alcohol by volume which is by @davedickeyyall standards, the equivalent to a 10mg THC edible. In other words, he would approve as it is clean crisp, refreshing and boring to the point where I could probably drink 24 in a hot day. It was cheaper than the other beer by a small margin and I chugged a few of these while reading my book on a balcony after everyone else had gone to sleep.
This beer in particular, I can remember crushing during a walk along the seaside street in St. Paul's Bay which started at the flat in which we were staying. Having just arrived home yesterday, I am missing this place and the walks along the salty sea.
#BEERSaturday!
263 consecutive weeks of #Beersaturday and we are still not beered out. Warm up your liver and hit up https://hive.blog/hive-187719/@detlev/beersaturday-week-263 for this week's #beersaturday post, grab a pint, and join in the fun with a beer story of your own. Don't forget to stack !BEER tokens so that you can get rich and play the Beer King games every week here https://friends.beersaturday.com/hive One day I will be the BEER KING!
This week of #BeerSaturday, I like to invite one of my newest friends @anzirpasai who also joined during the Steem days and is back building a stake! Write a post about beer with min. 3 pics in any language.
Cheers to our global family of beer-drinkers!!
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Wow thats a lot of diferent beers my firnds
A few new ones to be sure and I did have a lot of them on vacation. Slipping back into my home beer advantage, there are many more varieties and beerology definitely means lots of beer.
Mmm, I mostly like the stronger beers, but it's ok for me to join you for these Maltese beers! 😀 Cheers!
I am totally with the strong beers, particularly IPAs. You will probably find strong evidence of this in next weeks #beersaturday post by the look of my fridge right now.
Excellent post mate and I really liked the way you describe each beer! Now I have to go grab a beer because I was jealous 😂😂 Enjoy your holidays!
!PIZZA
Haha yah!
Beer is a blessing, especially with pizza!
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