A typical soft drink that originated in Malta is Kinnie, a non-alcoholic fizzy drink made from bitter oranges called "Chinotto orange" and slightly reminiscent of Martini.
The local beer is called Cisk pronounced "Chisk" and, for a premium lager 4.2% by volume, it is very reasonably priced by UK standards. It has a uniquely sweeter taste than most European lagers and is well worth trying. Other local beers, produced by the same company which brews Cisk, are Blue Label Ale, Hopleaf, 1565, Lacto "milk stout", and Shandy a typical British mixture pre-mixture of equal measures of lager and 7-UP. Other beers have been produced in Malta in direct competition with Cisk such as '1565' brewed and bottled in the Lowenbrau brewery in Malta. Since late 2006 another beer produced by a different company was released in the market called "Caqnu". A lot of beers are also imported from other countries or brewed under license in Malta, such as Carlsberg, Lowenbrau, SKOL, Bavaria, Guinness, Murphy's stout and ale, Kilkenny, John Smith's, Budweiser, Becks, Heineken, Efes, and many more.
Malta has two indigenous grape varieties, Girgentina and Ä ellewza, although most Maltese wine is made from various imported vines. Maltese wines directly derived from grapes are generally of a good quality, Marsovin (http://www.marsovin.com.mt/) and Delicata (http://www.delicata.com) being prominent examples, and inexpensive, as little as 60-95ct per bottle. Both wineries have also premium wines which have won various international medals There are also many amateurs who make wine in their free time and sometimes this can be found in local shops and restaurants, especially in the Mgarr and SiÄ¡Ä¡iewi area. Premium wines such as Meridiana (http://www.meridiana.com.mt/) are an excellent example of the dedication that can be found with local vineyards.
The main Maltese night life district is Paceville pronounced "pach-a-vil", just north of St. Julian's. Young Maltese as young as high school-age come from all over the island to let their hair down, hence it gets very busy here, especially on weekends also somewhat on Wednesdays, for midweek drinking sessions. Almost all the bars and clubs have free entry so you can wander from venue to venue until you find something that suits you. The bustling atmosphere, cheap drinks, and lack of cover charges makes Paceville well worth a visit. The nightlife crowd becomes slightly older after about midnight, when most of the youngsters catch buses back to their towns to meet curfew. Paceville is still going strong until the early hours of the morning, especially on the weekends.
Interestingly it does not rain much on Malta and almost all of the drinking water is obtained from the sea via large desalination plants on the west of the island or from the underground aquifer.
