Farsons Beer Festival returns with over 50 local artists and performances

The 39th edition of the Farsons Beer Festival will be held from Thursday, 25 July to Saturday, 3 August 2019 at Ta’ Qali National Park. Doors open at 8pm every night. Entrance is free of charge and no entry tickets are required. Free parking is available in the vast parking area outside the park.

A highly-anticipated fixture in the local summer calendar, the Farsons Beer Festival offers a wide range of local and international awardwinning beers, over 50 local artists and performances, and a food court offering a diverse choice of food. The festival is a fun-filled event for all the family.

Adolf Vella, Business Support Manager at Simonds Farsons Cisk plc and Festival Coordinator, commented, “This 10-day summer festival is eagerly awaited every year by locals and tourists alike, attracting several thousands of visitors every night. We are proud that throughout the years we have offered a festival that caters for all, young and not so young, be they families or groups of friends enjoying a night out.”

“Throughout the years, we have continuously evolved and developed the festival in line with market trends, be it the beer selection, choice of music and food, environmental responsibility or technology.”

Farsons’ flagship beer brand, Cisk Lager, is this year celebrating its 90th birthday precisely on 3rd August, the final day of this year’s edition of the festival. Special celebrations on the night will surely go down a treat with all festival visitors.

This year also marks the highly anticipated return of Ira Losco to the Farsons Beer Festival stage after an absence of a number of years. Her headlining performance on the Main Stage, on Saturday 3rd August, coincides with the celebrations for Cisk’s 90th birthday.

“We are extremely excited to have Ira Losco back on the Farsons Beer Festival Main Stage,” continued Mr Vella. “She has been missed and we are confident that her electrifying performance will be a very fitting grand finale to this year’s edition and a complement to Cisk’s 90th birthday on the same day.”

This year’s edition is once again sponsored by Vodafone and supported by XFM, Krea, PRS for Music, Peperami, Focal Maritime and Duracell. Other partners include Mapfre Middlesea, Bolt and Mars.

Commenting about the partnership, Tamás Bányai, Head of CBU at Vodafone Malta said, “We are excited to once again be partnering up with Farsons for this year’s Beer Festival, an event which has become an annual calendar highlight. We look forward to welcoming you all to Malta’s biggest summer music event!”

The beers

The vast choice of local and international award-winning beers on offer is the main highlight of the festival with the wide range including local brands Cisk Lager, this year celebrating its 90th birthday, and the full Cisk portfolio, Cisk Excel, Cisk Pilsner, Cisk Chill, Cisk Export and Cisk Strong. Also available is the Farsons Classic Brews range, which includes Blue Label Amber Ale, Double Red Strong Ale, India Pale Ale and Gold Label Pale Ale.

International brands include amongst others, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Corona, Beck’s, Desperados, Newcastle, Kilkenny and Guinness as well as specialty international beers St Austell, Hobgoblin, Baladin, Grimbergen and Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc. Gluten-free beer Bellfield. Zero alcohol versions of Carlsberg and Beck’s will also be available together with a selection of cider brands.

The programme

With over 50 performances spread across five areas, the festival offers as many genres of the local music scene as possible, from pop, rock and rap to ska, punk, indie and metal. There will also be a dedicated clubbing area and a variety of acoustic acts.

With top local artists and performers headlining every night, the programmes for both the Main and Alternative stages feature wellknown bands such as Red Electrick, Beangrowers, The Travellers, Tribali, BNI, Fakawi, The Ranch, Loathe and others.

The acoustic sessions are this year moving to the Carlsberg Bar and Guinness Pub. The programme for this area includes gigs by local bands and artists as well as comedy sketches.

A clubbing area, Casa Electronica, hugely popular last year, is also returning this year, and features several local well-known DJs, including Junior B, DJ Ruby, Ziggy, Miss Roberta and others.

Popular local Tikka Banda will be kicking off the weekends, roaming around the festival grounds, from 8pm onwards to get visitors into the festival groove.

This year also sees a return of the much-loved Kids Area to the Greek Theatre, where animators will keep children and their families entertained every night from 8.30pm to 9.30pm.

Also, Mr Vella adds, “This year, in line with our commitment to making the festival greener and to reduce our impact on the environment, we are announcing a switch to reusable cups, which can be purchased at all bars and reused throughout the festival. Through this measure, we will be reducing the amount of single-use plastic at the festival by an estimated 650kgs.”