31 August 2007
Michael Jackson – the Beer Hunter

Michael Jackson – the beer hunter died at his home in London, on 30 August. He was 65 years old.
He dedicated more than 30 years to discovering, recording and then sharing the world’s finest beers in his many books, articles and TV programmes.
Without doubt he was the most widely-published and influential author on beer.
Details of the funeral have yet to be announced.

Tim Hampson writes: "I have lost a good friend and the beer world has lost its most influential and passionate advocate. His writing style was wonderfully erudite and bubbled with humanity and humour. He told beautiful stories not just about beer, or breweries or faraway places but about people."


Roger Protz said: He was the best - and always will be the best. His knowledge of beer is unsurpassable. His genius was to be able to write simply and beautifully about beer.
Michael Jackson put beer on the map. His World Guide to Beer (1977) brought the beauty and complexity of beer to the attention of millions. I had just started to write about beer myself at the time and thought, naively, that while Britain brewed ale and Ireland stout, the rest of the world made lager. Thanks to Michael's magisterial book, I learnt about the many fascinating and then little-known styles available. Germany, for example, produced wheat beers, Alt beers and Kolsch as well as lagers -- and even some of those lager beers were dark. Czechoslovakia, then locked away behind the Iron Curtain, was the first producer of golden lager. Even France, in its northern regions, had a proud brewing tradition.
But undoubtedly Michael's greatest contribution was to unlock the stunning beers available in Belgium and to champion the cause of small craft brewers in the United States. He was given many awards in both countries for his work and his books on Belgian beer ran into many editions. In 1990 he found a new audience with his Beer Hunter series on Channel 4 in Britain, which was shown in the U.S. and many other countries. But while he toured endlessly, spending many months of the year on the road, writing researching and lecturing, he never lost touch with his roots, returning home for a pint of Young's Ordinary in his London local.
He was unquestionably the greatest beer writer of his generation and the fact that pubs, bars, restaurants, supermarkets and specialist shops now sell beers from all over the world is due to his energy, commitment and, above all, passion for the subject



Pete Brown said: “Michael was simply the most famous beer writer, beer advocate, beer fan, beer drinker, in the world. When I was researching my last book, I visited countless breweries around the world, and Michael had been there first. I knew this because people there couldn't wait to tell me — many of them had framed pictures by the mash tuns, evidence of his visit, a mark of approval, a stamp of credibility to rival any brewing award. Every single person who ever puts pen to paper about beer is influenced by him, whether they know it or not. Because before Michael started writing about beer in the 1970s, nobody did — not in the way we recognise. He was the first champion of Belgian beers, then languishing in obscurity. He was the insipiration for god knows how many microbrewers setting up, a sort of patron saint of the American craft brew industry. He invented the way we write beer tasting notes, often imitated, never equalled. Coming only weeks after the death of John White, I think the whole community of British writers is just shellshocked now — I certainly am. It's no exaggeration to say that the whole world of beer has suffered a massive loss."


Alastair Hook said: "When the brewing world wakes up one day it will realise the debt it owes to its greatest orator. Michael Jackson died yesterday and for me the greatest sadness of this loss is that despite him achieving all he wanted to achieve in the United States his legacy to the British brewing industry will remain questioned, and his passing will not generate the emotional earthquakes that it will in the United States. This is a tragedy, for it is the people of his homeland that owe a huge debt to Michael for is unwavering and selfless pursuit of the celebration of beer.

"For me he was the great inspiration, he turned base metal in to gold with his writing. Not only was it full of articulate observation of the character of beer itself but it wove in to its nature the history of the peoples and society that created it. He brought beer alive by showing to us all that what was present in a glass was more than just a liquid, it was a story, a triumph and would always provide a moment to savour, to uplift and to foster fun and reverence.

"His honesty and forthright appraisal with what was wrong in the British brewing fraternity was too much for many, and shunned by his own homeland he was equally emphatically celebrated as a hero in the New World. In the US he was the first object of attention for the ‘Beer Groupie’! To a large extent what he achieved in the US — bastion of the bland circa 1980, the most creative brewing fraternity in the world now — will indirectly help shake his homeland into the creative vein he always wanted to see. American micro-brewing has spawned a new generation of young brewers in the UK who refuse to accept blandness and mediocrity, and it is these people who owe the greatest debt to The Beer Hunter.

"This is the legacy that Michael Jackson’s work will leave the brewing world. A new generation of brewers who slowly and indirectly will raise the standards and variety of beer in his homeland, and for a Yorkshireman, who as they say in Lancashire ‘would prefer a good gripe to a five pound note’, this is an act of generosity typically untypical of the man himself.

"Every time I drink a Rochefort 12 Michael I will make a toast to you. Thanks for everything."


Melissa Cole said: "A man of prodigious passion and zest for life, Michael's beer and whisky knowledge was the stuff of legend and I always found him generous to a fault with it. An outrageous flirt and bon viveur Michael never failed to make me laugh when we met and was always, always threatening to take me out for longest lunch of my life — sadly that never came to pass.

"At the age of 65 Michael had crammed more into his years on the planet than most of us could dream of; his breakthrough book, The World Guide to Beer, put beers in their cultural context and really changed the way people looked at this incredible drink. So next time you're enjoying a home-grown pint make sure you raise a toast to Michael - because without him you may not have even have got the chance."


Adrian Tierney-Jones said: "An Olympian giant has been removed from the world of beer writing. If it wasn’t for him there wouldn’t be such a discipline as beer writing. With his books on pubs and beer in the 1970s he lifted an arcane, obscurist subject that was always playing second or third fiddle to wine-writing into something where vintage beers, Belgian oddities, Franconian lagers and fine ales were treated with the reverance usually accorded to ancient clarets and presumptuous burgundies. He was a voice for the vigorous bitters of England, the saintly Trappists of Belgium and the thoroughly modern IPAs of craft-brewing America, but more than that he was a voice for beer. His coming dovetailed with the success of CAMRA but he was more than a campaign to save real ale: he straddled the world in the search for great beer. He will be missed."


Barrie Pepper said: "Michael was the first chairman of the Guild and saw it through its birthpangs. He will be much missed. I followed him into the chair and have much to thank him for although I met him originally several years before this at a CAMRA event in York. We renewed our friendship at the Great British Beer Festivals that were held in Leeds and then he helped me through a battle I was having with Anheuser Busch - they turned 76 solicitors on me and I turned Michael Jackson on them and guess what? I won. In return I introduced him to the Amstrad. He was great company particularly at rugby league games and he took me along to a match at the fledgling Fulham club and then for a pint or two at one of his locals - the Dove in Hammersmith.

"His sense of humour was infectious. He was a Yorkshireman through and through and even in his serious books he used phrases such as 'fair-to-middlin'. As they say in God's own country, he was a grand fellow, a fair laiker."


Tim Webb said: "At the time of his death Michael will no doubt have been working on a sixth edition of his Beers of Belgium, just a small part of his prodigious output. Second only perhaps to the cask-conditioned Yorkshire ales of his youth, his passion for beer knew no greater love than for the craft beers of Belgium.

"He was a master of his art. Nobody has ever witten as evocatively as Michael about the absurd magic of spontaneous fermentation, the delicate blending of traditional gueuze or the simple steeping of cherries in tuns of lambic to create kriek. Nor about the wood-aged brown ales of West Flanders, which he cleverly termed the Flemish Reds to catch the eye of wine drinkers and maybe, just maybe, draw them in a little closer to considering a brief detour through the land of fine beers.

"Michael's contribution to Belgian craft brewing was, put simply, that he saved it from extinction.

"Joris Pattyn, a close colleague of mine in the Belgian beer consumer movement, referring to the first publication of the World Guide of Beer, once told me, ‘Michael reminded us that we had a great beer heritage. Until that moment it was as if we had forgotten’.

"Thirty years on, Belgium remains a major and highly respected beer-producing nation. It exports more than half of the beer it makes and its brewing industry is a significant and growing contributor to the Belgian economy. In no small part, Michael was responsible for that happening. He made a difference.

"Tonight I shall mourn the passing of my friend, and celebrate his life, by taking a pre-prandial oude gueuze from Cantillon, maybe a Saison Dupont with my pasta, a Rodenbach Grand Cru with the cheese, and before bed top it off with the last of my bottles of Oerbier Special Reserva. I doubt any of these world-beating beers would be around nowadays had Michael Jackson not helped to change the mentality of a profession and the tastes of a generation."


Tulio Zangrando said: "The news about the death of Michael Jackson makes me very sad. I consider Michael as probably the greatest ‘supporter’ of high quality beers and am proud to have in my library several of his books, some with personal dedications to me. Every brewer and beer fan has learned a lot from him! The loss for beer culture is invaluable."


Mikko Montonen writes: "Michael was a great friend. At a dinner table we hardly ever discussed beer. It was films and other arts.
He was grateful for me to introduce him to new London restaurants as everything in palate fascinated him. As a true Labour supporter he disliked the Tony government. And he called me a Lager Lout as I support Chelsea FC instead of his beloved Rugby. And Michael enjoyed and knew his wine as well although he never wrote about the subject. In April this year I still had the possibility to host Michael twice in Helsinki - first for my anniversary and then the Beer Festival. Thank you for everything over the years, Dear Friend. Kippis"!


Rupert Watts writes: "I feel I owe him a special debt of gratitude for the time he put some work my way about 15 years ago. Around that time I had mentioned to Michael that my situation as a freelance beer writers was non too good.

"Within a week I was contacted by a new magazine called European Drinks Decisions with a view to writing a feature on beers. They told me they had invited Michael to write the feature but as he had been unable to do so, he had recommended me. I wrote several more features for the same magazine until it eventually closed down."


Jaclyn and Stuart Bateman write: "Michael came to the brewery while we were in the mist of our family troubles in the mid 80's to film the Beer Hunter and we were forever grateful to him for choosing Batemans Brewery as the brewery he filmed in the U.K. for his programme.
The Bateman family had many laughs with him during the filming. One of the funniest memories was when a cask of XXXB was put in the back of Dad's Saab. The boot was closed and the back window was smashed. Emergency window repairs guys had to be called out until filming could commence as we were taking the beer to the GBBF in Leeds. Michael's writing will be greatly missed from all over the world."


Michael Turner writes "Michael took beer writing to another level and encouraged people to think about their beer in the same way as they do wine. He was a great ambassador for British beer and will be sorely missed by the brewing world and by everyone at Fuller’s."


John Keeling writes: “Me being a Lancastrian and him being a Yorkshireman, we didn’t always see eye-to-eye on every topic. But on beer, we always agreed.

“Michael Jackson was a great writer, a huge supporter of cask ale and a good friend. He was an inspiration to me during my career in brewing and his opinion was always worth listening to.”


Jeff Evans writes: "I returned to work from holiday this morning with a spring in my step. I switched on my computer and flexed my fingers in anticipation of a busy day of reinvigorated beer writing. Sadly, my new-found brio disappeared instantly when I read the first of several e-mails informing me of the death of Michael Jackson.

"A few years ago, when I was lucky enough to collect the Beer Writer of the Year award, I acknowledged the massive debt I owed to Michael for putting me in that elevated position. He may have been widely known as The Beer Hunter, but for me he was The Trail Blazer. Without Michael, it is very unlikely that that award, that dinner, and this Guild of Beer Writers would have even existed. It was a debt that all of the beer writing fraternity owes Michael, but one that he modestly shrugged off. 'You didn't have to say that,' he gently admonished me afterwards, but, on this occasion, he was wrong. I did.

"Thank you again, Michael."