Farsons in Malta

[stronk]

I'm wondering if anyone here has had any experience with maltese beers or the maltese beer festival. I'm in Malta at the moment and would like to go, except that I have just read the list of beers on their website: "Local beers include Cisk Lager, Hopleaf Smooth 'N' Creamy and Blue Label Smooth 'N' Creamy. International beer brands include Cisk Export, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Guinness, Kilkenny, John Smith's, Beck's and Corona".

Now, I'm not trying to malign the Maltese brewing industry (according to Richard, they only make crappy beer due to commercial pressure), but it would be nice if they could make a little bit of an effort to build a stall called 'world beers', instead of stocking it with 5 insipid lagers, two terrible ales and one nice beer (which, incidentally, I can easily get my hands on by walking 20 metres down the road from where I'm staying).
They even have, at their only national beer festival, a 'daily drinking competition'! What an example to set to the tourists planning a night out in Malta...

They don't even seem to brew 'lacto' (a pleasant milk stout, which I have never seen) anymore, which was my only hope for the Maltese brewers. Does anyone know if they still do? The brewery aren't answering my e-mails.

[stronk]

I called them and they say they do still brew lacto, but that there's not much demand for it (only for cooking and pregnant mothers, apparently; the marketing rep sounded very surprised when I said I'd like to taste it). That seems to be the situation with this brewery: they're hanging together despite pressure from imports by brewing beer of a slightly superior quality to the imports and making it cheaper.

It's the same old story: the beer has no taste so that it doesn't have any possibilty of conflict with any of the visitors' tastes.

I still think that in a country as hot as this, there's a gaping hole where wheat beers should be. There are no wheat beers brewed on the island, despite the fact that they're the perfect summer drink and most of the visitors from Europe will recognise and love them from their own country's brews. I wish I could make the suggestion to the brewery and actually have an impact, but I guess I'd have to earn their respect first (which isn't likely to happen).

[Richard English]

I have mentioned this previously.

I was in Malta last year and took a group to visit the brewery. The entire brewing team accompanied us and they Head Brewer brewed a high gravity beer especially for us. It was excellent, even allowing for the fact that it was a little new.

I suggested to them that they should consider brewing a batch and selling it as a bottle-conditioned ale. Sadly the usual old rubbish came out: our customers expect chemical fizz (if they have no choice of course they do); it won't keep in our high temperatures (oh yes it will); it's too expensive (oh no it's not).

Call them. Talk to their PR lady, Karen Malmo and mention my name. They'll be happy to take you round and you might even get some drinkable beer!

[stronk]

Thanks for the tips; at least there's someone else who cares about the sad state of Maltese brewing apart from me. Half of my family is completely Maltese, so it turns out that I know a few people involved in the brewery by proxy (including the owner). Sadly, I am going back to England on Monday, so a visit will have to wait until next year (but I'll try to remember to tell them that I've been in touch with you).