Legendary Beer Critic Michael Jackson Dies
12 Comments Published by Joel August 31st, 2007 in Beer, Great Men. Share This
Michael Jackson, the “Beer Hunter,” died yesterday in his home in London. More than any one man, Jackson brought the variety and excitement of real craft beer to the masses. As one of the first to send in their thoughts to Beer Town’s tribute page aptly noted, “Michael simply created the beer universe as we know it.”
I saw him once across a crowded bar one night at Barcade, but never had a chance to speak to him. Bless him all the same. If it hadn’t been for his unflagging passion for beer and his canonical writing, I may not have discovered one of the few things in this wretched world that gives me hope that humanity really can make things better.
Tribute Page [Beertown]
12 Responses to “Legendary Beer Critic Michael Jackson Dies”
- 1 Trackback on Sep 1st, 2007 at 3:24 pm
This makes me very, very sad. It only seems right to go get a bottle or two of good beer tonight, to drink in his honor.
RIP sir.
Support craft beer.
That sounds like a very good idea Susie.
It is truly a sad day indeed. The man was a legend whose prose could excite anyone about a good beer. He will be missed.
Who wants to pour some down our gullets for our dead Beer Hunter?
It should also be noted that he wrote quite a bit on whisky, single malt or otherwise. Lifting a dram to the man would be an appropriate honor as well.
When I saw the name, I was thinking of Michael Jackson the southern California radio talk show host. “I didn’t know he was a beer expert,” I thought.
I’m not familiar with this particular Michael Jackson, but experts on beer are always appreciated. Sorry to hear about the loss.
Off topic, but searching for Michael Jackson made me wonder where where the ‘King of Pop’ went.. Dubai? Is he even alive? Or his kids?
That sucks. I was a huge fan of his reviews, and am (was?) weeks away from joining his Rare Beer Club. I wonder if that will go on? Hopefully he trained a protege to take over.
A real loss to the beer community world-wide.
back on topic — i had only heard about this guy a few months back when I was searching for books on scotch.
Can anyone suggest good books he has written on beer or on scotch? A collection of articles perhaps?
Where should I begin?
The good scotch books that he’s written (I’ve heard, I’ve not read any of them) are The Malt Whisky Companion, Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch, Whiskey: the Definitive World Guide, and Scotland and Its Whiskies.
Hi, much delayed in stumbling across your posts and for that I apologize – but to answer JP, the Rare Beer Club will absolutely go forward, at a minimum through 2008. Michael had wanted this to be the case in the event of his death, and in fact, we had worked out the feature selections that will carry us at least that far. While I don’t think that I would ever deserve the title “protoge”, I spent a considerable amount of time with Michael as a friend, mentor, and associate as we searched out club beers, and tasted and wrote about them for the newsletters and various film projects, over the past 6 years. I consider myself extremely rich for the personal and professional time that I got to spend with him, which was often very focused and dedicated days of traveling together without the usual hoopla of festivals and journalists.
As far as a book recommendation for Josh, I am especially fond of The Great Beers of Belgium, having spent so many memorable days with him in that wonderful brewing nation. We have the only remaining English-language copies of the most recent 5th edition – you can grab it from our website, or drop me a note.
Cheers for now -
Keith
Only learned of this sad event last night. Always felt I’d cross his path some day and get to express my deep appreciation for the books and `The Beer Hunter’ episodes. I certainly stored snippets of his reviews in my mental `beer archives’,to be tapped into as occasion required. I truly believe there are others like myself who admired him as guru and fellow enthusiast of that greatest of all potables.
I shall lift many a pint to his memory, as I know many of his friends universally will do likewise.May It seems only appropriate to wish that he has found a cozy pub where trappist, fine bitter, kolsch, stout pilsener are always on draught.
REST WELL MICHAEL.