Moved By An Inch, Or Two

On Thursday, August 30, 2007, at around 9:30 a.m. London time, Michael Jackson (aka “The Beer Hunter” and “MJ”) passed away at the age of 65. An author and critic, he was best known in the beer circles for The Beer Hunter TV/VHS series back in the late ’80s, The World Guide to Beer (first published in 1977), countless writings in numerous publications, and our personal favorite: The Great Beers of Belgium—if you don’t have it, buy the 5th edition today.

We’ll admit that in the past we’ve been somewhat vocal in questioning MJ’s marketing bias toward certain brands—like Lion Stout, which had his mug all over the branding—and his high appearance fees for gracing beer events with his presence, but ever since BeerAdvocate became a full-time gig for us we also realize that someone has to pay the bills, and for the most part the craft beer industry hasn’t woken up to the fact that grassroots marketing alone does not equal infinite growth. So yeah, someone has to pay the bills, even if that someone is yourself.

Regardless, what we’ve never questioned was the tremendous impact that MJ has had on us personally. Some might call this a stretch, but in the US we can all thank MJ for the beer culture we enjoy today. He’s not only helped us to reclaim it: Through him we’ve explored beers and breweries from places we could only dream of visiting; were introduced to something called a “beer vocabulary,” along with the term “moreish”; given definitions for beer styles previously undefined; and for the good part of two decades we were able to live vicariously through his prolific ponderings over every beer that was ever poured. His research, travel, and beery tales were one of our core inspirations for starting BeerAdvocate. It’s also why we personally dubbed him the “Most Influential Beer Writer on Earth” in our August issue of BeerAdvocate magazine.

Other than a handful of brief encounters, we’ve never had the pleasure of talking to MJ for an extended period of time. However, on one of those rare crossing of paths, MJ told us that although he loved beer, whiskey was his true passion. At first this took us by surprise, as we were in NYC for the 2000 World Beer Cup, and had just listened to him dismantle mass-marketed beer during a Q&A session and follow by delivering an inspiring keynote speech during a Slow Food beer dinner. He also made his whiskey confession to us while pulled up at the bar of the Heartland Brewery during the after party.

“Did we just hear The Beer Hunter say that his passion was whiskey?” We looked down at the drink in MJ’s hand. It wasn’t beer. We thought: “Whiskey? What the …?! Sorry, but that’s not our thing.” He pointed to a bottle behind the bar, noting that it was a very rare bottle from an American distiller. He didn’t stop there. He went on to explain its history, his visit to the distillery, the oak used, the flavors we were about to experience, why he enjoyed it, and then, just before he began to ramble with passion, suggested that we take advantage of the open bar. To the dismay of our hosts, we did. The three of us raised our glasses of whiskey, toasted to good times, imbibed deeply and gave each other one of those “this is what life is all about” looks. Before we knew it the bottle was empty, MJ had left the building, whiskey was our new friend, and our appreciation for beer changed forever.

“Maybe I can move people a bit, just an inch or a centimeter toward trying something new.”
—Michael Jackson, BeerAdvocate magazine (August 2007) ■