Days of the Beer, September 5

The beer for today is Cisk Extra Lager (review here).

On September 5, 1800 Malta was conquered by Great Britain. It had been under the French for a couple of years. Napoleon captured Malta in 1798 when he was on his way to Egypt. He asked for a place to resupply his ships, and when it was granted, he turned his guns on the city and took it. France occupied Malta for two years, but was very unpopular. Great Britain sent ammunition and aid to people fighting the French. In 1800, Britain sent the navy to blockade the island. The French forces surrendered and the island became a British Dominion. It would be under British rule until 1964.

Malta is located half-way between Gibraltar and the Suez Canal and was used as a shipping station and fleet headquarters for the Brits.

In Malta, there is one brewery, Simonds Farsons Cisk. It was founded in 1928, when the Maltese were still under British rule. The name Cisk comes from Giuseppe Scicluna's (a banker who took over operations of the Malta Export Brewery) nickname "Iċ-Ċisk" or "the Cheque". He apparently wrote a lot of checks.

I had this beer on July 1.

So in remembrance of the Brits driving out the French, have a Cisk Extra.