It is not unheard of in Malta that the mispronunciation of a word becomes so commonly used that it replaces the actual word itself. We have petlor instead of ‘petrol’ and we have definitely all heard about the mix up of ‘reverse osmosis’ as ‘the river of Moses’. If the mispronunciation of a word is a quirky characteristic that features in our culture, then it just adds that much more character to Malta’s most beloved beer Cisk, a name which was also born out of a mispronunciation.

The beer will shortly be celebrating its 90th anniversary, but the story behind the name actually started eight decades prior, in about 1840, when a man called Giuseppe Scicluna established Malta’s first private bank.

According to the brand’s website, back in those days, most people kept money that they earned at home, hidden in boxes and pockets, or it would be given to a bank to be placed in a vault and withdrawn only when the need arose.

Customers started to operate current accounts with the bank belonging to Scicluna when cheques were introduced to the island, and could be used as a means of payment.

It was not long before the word 'cheques' was pronounced by semi-literate individuals from a variety of areas as cisk, and Scicluna consequently earned the name Ic-Cisk (The Cisk).

In the late 1920s, the bank took over the operations of a client who had a license to manufacture beer. This company then became known as The Malta Export Brewery, and Cisk was officially born. The Malta Export Brewery merged with Simonds Farsons Limited in 1948 to become Simonds Farsons Cisk. All along, the recipe has remained the same, whilst the number of people enjoying it has only increased!

Besides being Malta’s favourite beer, it may also be Malta’s most famous mispronounced word. Fancy that!