Kinnie, Cisk and Maltese wine, what to drink on the islands

In almost any Maltese bar you’ll see three things in the fridge. A lager with an odd name, a dark fizzy drink that isn’t cola, and bottles of island wine. All three have a story, and I think knowing it changes how you drink them.

Cisk, the lager named after a banker

Farsons, the company that brews Cisk today, tells the story itself. In 1928 the Farrugia family opened a brewery in Ħamrun and on 19 April launched Farsons Pale Ale, the first beer brewed in Malta. Until then, beer was shipped over from England by the English brewers H & G Simonds for the British garrison, which is why the company name still carries an English surname.

A year later, in 1929, the Malta Export Brewery brought out Cisk Munchener. The name is the best bit. It comes from Giuseppe Scicluna, the banker who founded Malta’s first private bank in 1840 and introduced cheques to the island. People called him Ic-Cisk, their way of saying cheques, and the nickname ended up on the label. The two breweries later merged as Simonds Farsons Cisk.

What is Kinnie, and what does it taste like?

It’s Malta’s own soft drink, launched by Farsons in 1952. The company describes it as bittersweet, made from bitter oranges and a blend of herbs and botanicals, and says it became a cultural icon. A word of warning. If you’re expecting something like a cola, you’ll be surprised, because the bitterness leads.

For me it’s the most Maltese drink of all, more so than the lager. Cisk has its equivalents everywhere, but Kinnie only makes sense here. Have it properly cold and make up your own mind.

Maltese wine is better than you’d think

Visitmalta admits Malta lacks the wine reputation of its neighbours, but says its wines win awards in France and Italy and that several are already on UK supermarket shelves. The growers use international grapes, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Moscato, and two native ones, Gellewża and Għirgħentina. Visitmalta adds that in Malta’s heat the grapes ripen faster than further north.

The main wineries run guided tours and tastings, covering the production process and the history of the wine. Visitmalta mentions, for instance, tastings at Delicata in Paola between November and May.

Gozo and its DOK label

The Ministry for Gozo explains that the DOK Gozo label only goes to wines made from grapes grown on the island, with checks from harvest to labelling. The grapes it lists are Chardonnay, Girgentina, Gellewża, Merlot and Syrah, and the three main wineries, Ta’ Mena, Tal-Massar and Marsovin Ramla Valley, are all in Xagħra.

If you’re spending more than a day on Gozo, I’d do a tasting there rather than on Malta. It makes more sense to drink the wine next to the vines, and the label takes the guesswork out of where the grapes came from.

Drinking sensibly

One warning I don’t want to leave out. According to the Foreign Office, some bars and gentlemen’s clubs in Paceville have seen customers drugged by criminals, and advises buying your own drinks, keeping them in sight and checking your bill. It’s no reason to panic, but it’s worth knowing. The night scene is covered in my guide to Malta nightlife.

With food, these drinks work better than you’d expect. A red from a native grape with Maltese rabbit stew, or an ice-cold Cisk with a few pastizzi, is to me the most honest way to eat and drink in Malta. The rest is in my guide to Maltese food.