The Farsons Great Beer Festival has become one of the country’s main annual events where one can savour the true Maltese experience, as Kevin Drake, from the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) put it.

Farsons launched the festival at Nove wine bar in St Julian’s yesterday, announcing that the opening night on Friday will be broadcast live on the national television station, TVM.

The festival, being held at Ta’ Qali National Park, is an open-air, ten-day event filled with fun and entertainment for the family. Organised annually since 1981, the festival is eagerly awaited by thousands of Maltese and it is a magnet for tourists.

Ray Grech, chief marketing officer at Simonds Farsons Cisk plc said the Festival was a celebration of Farsons’ brewing tradition, which was established in 1928.

For the first time this year, Farsons will be introducing a special section where beers that are available exclusively in export markets will be served. These are Farsons Strong Ale, Lacto Milk Stout, Cisk Red and Cisk Extra Strong.

Local beers on offer at the festival include Cisk Lager, Hopleaf Extra, Blue Label Smooth ‘N’ Creamy, Farsons Traditional Shandy, Shandy Lager and Lime and the recently launched Cisk Excel, while the international beer section will include Cisk Export, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Guinness, Newcastle Brown Ale, Kilkenny, John Smith’s, Beck’s, and Corona.

The entertainment programme for the 10-day event is as full as ever, with the main area featuring mainstream artistes such as Claudette Pace, William Mangion, Lawrence Gray, Ludwig Galea, Klinsmann, and Fabrizio Faniello.

Malta’s representative in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Olivia Lewis will be on stage performing live with other artistes such as Mike Spiteri, J Anvil and Marvic Lewis.

Ivan Filletti, marketing manager at Simonds Farsons Cisk plc, said that other performances by ZOO, a Musicals Night, and an 80s Party ensure a well-rounded entertainment line-up that will definitely interest everyone.

The second stage, the rock stage in the World Beers Area, will feature a host of alternative and rock bands and artistes, such as Fakawi, Ira Losco, Chasing Pandora, Beangrowers, Rug, Fire, Scream Daisy, Mindstate and Winter Moods.

The main novelty of this year’s festival is Kids Fantasyland, which will be presented by Curtain Raiser. Mr Matthew Cuomo, the festival organiser, said: “Children will be able to enjoy an amazing range of performing arts, hands-on workshops, arts and crafts, storytelling, and educational programmes, in a safe environment. They will enjoy more than 15 types of activities jam-packed with fun, and above all, education.”

The festival draws to a close on 5 August. Gates open at 8pm every day and entrance is free of charge.

A full programme of the entertainment line-up is available at www.

farsons.com/beerfestival.