Construction of the brewery at Mriehel began in 1946 and was completed within four years. It was planned and designed by Lewis V. Farrugia, the Managing Director of Simonds Farsons Limited, who was an architect and civil engineer by profession. In 1948 the company merged with the Malta Export Brewery to form Simonds Farsons Cisk Limited. The following photographs were taken on 27 March 2012. Located next to new E.U. funded motorways, a visit to Simonds Farsons Cisk was a wonderful snap shot of times gone by. On our arrival, my fellow brewer and friend, Steve Skinner, and I were struck by the build- ing’s somewhat colonial-old-public school feel. This was our second day on the island of Malta, a former British protectorate in the Mediterranean, home of the oldest structures in Europe, crystal clear seas and big blue skies. Of course, it has been the scene of many con- flicts, many ‘owners’ and many Sunday afternoon war films. After a V.H.S. video presentation, our ‘guide’ was keen to tell me about the day Michael Jackson came. I asked who had been since and they replied - you’re the first since. I do, however, think that was a bit of flattery, but I can imagine that we were a couple of a few who’d paid them interest on this level. Walking through the corridors, garnished with old artwork from the early adverts, it’s a very romantic place. When you’re on this small island, population 400,000, you pass red telephone boxes, red letter boxes and, yes, you drive on the left hand side. So you can see why the brewery brews classic English style ales. My heart jumped to see such quality beer being brewed true today as they were in the 1930-50s (with a small, obvious, break) by what would be called a ‘design led business’ today. Blue Label is a really good old, English, amber ale. HopLeaf, a hoppy, for old school British brewing, proper pale ale. Cisk, prior to pasteurization, is an excellent light Czech style Pilsener. Of course, they still produce the famous Farsons Lacto, a milk stout, in the vein of Mackesons. They also produce Carlsberg and others under licence. The only shame was the beer beyond the pasteurizer. However, because of climate and lack of cellaring (skills and space), the likelihood of unpasturised beer ever hitting the tap is slim to unlikely. Now the head brewer, a very charming local chap, Herriot Watt graduate and a person well aware of the larger craft beer scene, is taking on the challenge of migrating to the new brewing plant. This, I believe, is a high-tech German system, such is the demand for Cisk over the ales of old. I did leave the site with the mind that they didn’t know what they had there and that people needed to know about the place. It was a wonderful visit, we drank the entire range of beers whilst there on holiday, satisfied, but our taste buds did heart for the unpasteurized versions of their iconic beers. It was a privilege, near time-travel, to visit a near long gone period of British brewing on a tiny island in the Mediterranean. Journal of the Brewery History Society 12 BREWERY HISTORY The Journal is © 2012 The Brewery History Society Brewery History (2012) 149, 12-19 THE SIMONDS FARSONS CISK BREWERY, MRIEHEL, MALTA: A PHOTO ESSAY PHIL LOWRY