Public | |
Industry | Brewing |
Founded | 1928 |
Area served
|
Malta |
Website | Farsons.com |
Simonds Farsons Cisk plc is a group of companies on the island of Malta engaged in the brewing, production and sale and distribution of beers and other beverages, the importation, wholesale and retail of food and beverages including wines and spirits, the operation of franchised food retailing establishments and property development.
Established in 1928, Farsons was the first brewery to be established on the island, in the town of Hamrun, near the capital city Valletta. The brewery's first beer was Farsons Pale Ale, brewed to meet the preferences of the British garrison and navy stationed in Malta at the time. In 1929, Farsons merged with the H.G Simonds brewery from Reading to establish Simonds Farsons Ltd.
In the same year and a short distance from the Farsons brewery, the Marquis John Scicluna, whose family had established the first privately owned local bank, opened the Malta Export Brewery. While Simonds Farsons Ltd had been granted the licence to brew ales, the Malta Export Brewery was granted a temporary exclusive licence to brew Bavarian-style lagers under the names Cisk Pilsner and Cisk Munchener.
Following twenty years of rivalry, the Malta Export Brewery merged with Simonds Farsons Ltd in 1948 to form the company Simonds Farsons Cisk Ltd which soon after diversified its product portfolio and interests.
Farsons beers include lagers, ales and stouts. Its Cisk lager range includes: Cisk (Lager Beer), Cisk Export (Premium Lager Beer), Cisk Pilsner (Premium German style Pils), Cisk Extra Strong (Extra Strong Lager Beer), Cisk Excel (Low Carb Lager Beer), Cisk Chill Range (Lemon, Berry and Ginger Lime Lager Beer Flavour), Hopleaf (Pale Ale), Farsons Double Red (English style strong Ale), Farsons IPA (Indian Pale Ale), Blue Label (Amber Ale), Lacto (Milk Stout), Traditional Shandy, as well as Carlsberg, Skol and Budweiser under licence. The company also has a "Smooth 'n' Creamy" draught and Cans variant of Blue Label. Cisk Lager, Cisk Excel, Cisk Export, Cisk Pilsner, Blue Label, are also available in 20 Litre and 30 Litre kegs for export markets.
The name "Cisk" originates from Giuseppe Scicluna's nickname "Iċ-Ċisk" which developed out of the local mispronunciation of the word "cheque" which was introduced into local circulation by the Scicluna Bank. Aside from brewing, Farsons is also the franchisee of Pepsico International and produces and packages a variety of local and international non-alcoholic beverages including its non-alcoholic citrus based bitter sweet soft drink, Kinnie. In addition to Malta, Kinnie is also produced under licence in Australia.