Farsons - the Maltese marvel

It is one of the curiosities of the beer world that you can fly for more than three hours to a small group of islands in the Mediterranean and find a...

It is one of the curiosities of the beer world that you can fly for more than three hours to a small group of islands in the Mediterranean and find a thriving British ale culture. Over the centuries, Malta has been invaded by many nations, but its British connection since Napoleonic times and its courageous defiance of the Nazis in WWII have fashioned a beer style similar to our own.

The major brewery on Malta was originally named Farsons, an English-sounding name but in reality a contraction of Farrugia & Sons, a local Maltese family. Farsons was founded in 1928 and almost immediately became known as Simonds Farsons following a merger with the large Reading brewery of H&G Simonds, which later became part of the Courage group.

Simonds had exported such vast amounts of beer to British troops stationed on Malta and other parts of the Med since the 1880s that it seemed sensible to brew in the region and the Farsons site offered the ideal opportunity.

Simonds was famous for its "hop leaf" logo. The name is still displayed on Malta with Hop Leaf Pale Ale (3.8% abv) and Hop Leaf Extra (5%). There are two more beers with a Simonds' legacy, Blue Label (3.3%), originally a light mild, and Lacto, a 3.8% milk stout.

Milk stout still brewed in Malta

Milk stout was once a major beer style in Britain from the 19th century to the 1950s, but today is confined to Mackeson. Simonds in Reading enjoyed a high-reputation for its version of the style and members of the family must be intrigued to learn that it is still brewed and consumed on Malta.

Sales are now small, but Lacto retains a following among older locals and pregnant women and is blended with Christmas cake or other dishes. The beer, which is Hop Leaf Pale Ale with the addition of caramel, lactose - also known as milk sugar - and vitamin B, has taken on a new lease of life as a keg beer exported to the US. I found it very different to Mackeson: it's considerably stronger with a palate of coffee, chocolate and milk drops.

The brewery also produces lager and this now accounts for more than 75% of production. The lagers are branded as Cisk: there are two main versions, Cisk (4.2% abv) and Cisk Export (5%), with two extra strong versions for the Italian market.

Simonds Farsons merged with the Malta Export Brewery in the 1940s. The second plant was built with the help of the Augustiner Brewery in Munich and was run by another local family named Scicluna, reduced to Cisk with a hard "c" as the brand name.

Simonds Farsons Cisk is born

Under the new name of Simonds Farsons Cisk, the company moved to a new site in the 1950s with a superb Art Deco design. The brewhouse has magnificent copper vessels that produce 110,000 hectolitres a year.

For ale, English malts are imported from Bairds, Crisps and Pauls, while English hop varieties Challenger, Target and Goldings add peppery notes. German hops are used for Cisk lagers.

A new brewhouse will come on stream in 2008, boosting capacity. Malta is a member of the European Union and the open borders policy means that several international beer brands are now available on the island. But Farsons is confident it can grow its own beers in the face of stiff competition.

But, as with Denmark and the Netherlands, major growth will come from exports. The Cisk and Hop Leaf brands in bottle are now available in Britain, but the company is looking for links with a regional brewer and supermarkets to expand.

I suggested that rather than keg versions of the Hop Leaf beers, Farsons should consider going down the cask route for the British market. The heritage of the name demands nothing less.