Original “Beer Hunter” Michael Jackson Dead at Age 65
I feel a strange sense of loss. Here is a guy that I have only basically mumbled a shy hello to while passing him at “The Great American Beer Festival.” This is the same guy that embarrassed me (and many beer geeks) as he fumbled around, looking half-crocked with his fly undone on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” last year. He was supposed to come across as suave, literate and sophisticated, on behalf of all drinkers of “better beer.” This was always how he presented himself; he was our delegate.
What we all did not know at the time was the Mr. J was battling Parkinson’s Disease and it was getting the best of him, not that he was a drunken fool. Unfortunately, that is not what the world saw that evening. Fortunately, Michael Jackson’s lasting legacy will be made up of a long list of what anyone would call “The Definitive Text Books” of beer culture, many award winning. His moving images are preserved (sans the Conan appearance) as the “Beer Hunter” from his successful Dicovery Channel and PBS series of the 1980’s. Mr. Jackson also penned many books and guides on whisky and other spirits, but his first love and the strongest was for that of fine beer.
Anyone who considers themselves an epicure or has even a slight interest in beer should have at least one his books in their food and beverage library. I would bet that there is not one public library in the Western world that does not have at least one of Mr. Jackson’s books on beer. Not only was Mr. Jackson a writer of books, he was a respected beer critic. And I mean RESPECTED. It was nearly every brewers wish (secret or not) that Mr. Jackson would one day grace the entrance of their tasting room, have a sip of the brewer’s best, and then receive a thumbs up from a smiling Michael Jackson. When it has happened, the brewer would waste no time telling you about it.
As a beer writer (with Mr. Jackson being many, many levels above me), I can feel the passion that he put into writing about such a thing as a beverage. He always tied the beverage to the culture, and rightly so. This “beer culture” is really what makes me so passionate about the liquid that goes along with it. If I am ever in doubt of the deep ties that beer has with the people who make it and drink it, I only need to crack open “Michael Jackson’s Beer Companion” or “Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide” to set me straight… Cheers and thanks Mr. J!
November 26th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
[…] Though the process of brewing is a science, creating good beer is an art. The craft-brewer is an artisan as well as a practical scientist. One alter-ego cannot survive without the other. Sure, there are many scientifically perfect beers, brewed with little or no creativity, like the typical American or European macro-lagers. These flavor challenged beers are designed to be accepted into our mouth like water, with just enough flavor to disguise the alcohol, allowing us to ingest large volumes seemingly without consequence. This reminds me of saying on a favorite T-shirt owned by the recently deceased beer writer Michael Jackson; “Beer– If you can’t taste it, why bother?” […]