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.

Beer Review, Cisk Extra Lager

I drank quite a bit of beer last night, and was able to review most of them. I started the night around 6 p.m. with a Cisk Extra Lager.

This one poured clear, a honey yellow, with a surprisingly resilient head. I expected it it dissipate quickly, but it stuck. It even produced a little bit of Belgian Lace. It smelled sweet, and pilsner-y. It felt fizzy and surprisingly heavy on the tongue.

It tasted sweet at first, with a little bit of bitter. It finished sour, and somewhat drying. As it warmed there were hints of caramel and maybe some butter or margarine (I can't believe it's not butter).

It wasn't that refreshing. I thought it was relatively temperate in the house, Kriddy thought it felt warm, and that surprised me that this wasn't the thirst quencher, I'd have hoped it would be. It was ok, but I think I enjoyed the can and not "extra" more.

After finishing this, we headed to our usual Tuesday starting joint of Hooters. There was no trivia, but we watched Wipeout. I started there with a bottle of Shocktop (it reminded me of dishsoap; too bad... I'm a "beer guy" with a Mohawk and if I liked it, I could probably advertise for them... :( ), then followed it up with a Boulevard Pale. Then we headed to Radio Maria.

... to be continued...