There’s a tear in my beer
When you say “Michael Jackson” to a fan of good beer, the last thing he or she will think of is that singer who is missing a glove. Instead, they think of an unassuming Englishman with an awful lot of facial hair and an excellent beer in hand. Jackson had what was probably the best job in the world, writing about beer, and he seems to have made the best of it. The beer community has now lost that voice, as Jackson died on Friday, August 31, at age 65. Judging from his last column with All About Beer, it appears he knew what was coming. The rest of us did not.
Jackson may not have started the real beer movement, but his writing did an awful lot to move it forward, and drinkers of good beer all across Europe and the US owe him a debt of gratitude. I have a number of Jackson’s many books on beer and whiskey (although I seem to have lost a number of them as well), and have always gone back to them when I try a new style or region. Jackson managed to write about quality in beer without being exclusionary, writing even-handedly about everything from the lightest of lagers to the heaviest of barley wines. I may not always have agreed with him, but his books and his beer hunter website are invaluable resources anyone who wants to know more about beer.
The beer hunter folks are working to organize a tribute to the man who brought us so much good reading about beer, currently slated for September 30. Michael Jackson has always treated my home city of Philadelphia well, and I’m happy to say that the annual beer tasting at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology will this year be a tribute to the man who help stoke the enthusiasm of beer lovers in our fair city.
In the meantime, wherever you are, break open a bottle of your favorite brew and toast the man who did so much to promote the awareness of good beer.
Photo from www.upenn.edu
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