Introduced 1952 | ||
 | ||
Variants Kinnie ZestDiet Kinnie Similar Pastizz, Maltese bread, Ġbejna, Imqaret, Bajtra | ||
kinnie maltese drink commercial ii
Kinnie ([kinːiː]) is a soft drink from Malta. It was first developed in 1952 by Simonds Farsons Cisk.
Contents
Kinnie is amber in colour, has a bittersweet flavour, and is drunk straight or mixed with alcohol to create a long drink.
History
Kinnie was first produced in 1952 as an alternative to the cola drinks that proliferated in post-war Europe.
Kinnie's recipe is kept secret. However the official website provides further information about its ingredients, suggesting that Kinnie owes its bittersweet taste to a blend of Mediterranean chinotto bitter oranges, combined with an infusion of a dozen different aromatic herbs and spices such as anise, ginseng, vanilla, rhubarb and liquorice.
As the health awareness increased over recent decades, a Diet version for Kinnie appeared in 1984. In 2007, a new low calorie version of Kinnie called Kinnie Zest was made available. This has a slightly darker colour and a stronger orange flavour, and is advertised as only having one calorie per bottle. The latest Kinnie variant is Kinnie Vita which is naturally sweetened using a blend of sugar and stevia leaf extract.
Sales locations
Kinnie is exported to the UK, Italy, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Libya, and Canada.
In recent years, Simonds Farsons Cisk also started to franchise Kinnie production overseas. As a result, Kinnie is now produced under licence in Australia.
In March 2009, it was announced that Farsons were going to start exporting Kinnie into Russia. In the summer of 2010, Farsons and Kinnie UK Limited soft-launched Kinnie and its two variants in London's West End, reaching almost 100 trial outlets by September 2010.
