Michael Jackson | |
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![]() Jackson at the 2004 Helsinki Beer Festival | |
Born | Wetherby, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | 27 March 1942
Died | 30 August 2007 65) London, England | (aged
Known for | Beer and whisky reviewing and journalism |
Partner | Paddy Gunningham (1981—2007) [1] [2] |
Website | Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter Rare Beer Club founder Michael Jackson Collection - Archive at Oxford Brookes University The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling - Funding technical education and career advancement for black, indigenous, and people of colour in the brewing and distilling industries |
Michael James Jackson (27 March 1942 – 30 August 2007) was an English writer and journalist. He was the author of many influential books about beer and whisky. He was a regular contributor to a number of broadsheets, particularly The Independent and The Observer . [3]
Jackson's books have sold over three million copies worldwide and have been translated into 18 languages. [4] He is credited with helping to start a renaissance of interest in beer and breweries worldwide in the 1970s, particularly in the United States. [5] He is also widely credited with popularising the idea of beer styles. [6] His influential television series The Beer Hunter was shown in fifteen countries. [7]
He was as well-versed in malt whisky as he was in beer, and his book Michael Jackson's Malt Whisky Companion (1989) was the best-selling book on the subject in the world. [4]
Jackson developed Parkinson's disease a bit more than a decade before his death. He did not declare his illness until its symptoms caused some to think he was inebriated. [3]
Jackson was born in Wetherby, West Riding of Yorkshire. [8] His father had anglicised his Lithuanian Jewish surname Jakowitz to Jackson. The family moved to Leeds after World War II. [8] He went to King James's Grammar School, Almondbury, and became a journalist, particularly being associated with Edinburgh, where he first encountered whisky. On his return to London, he briefly edited the advertising trade journal Campaign .
Michael Jackson became known in beer circles in 1977 when his book The World Guide to Beer was first published. This was later translated into more than 10 languages and is still considered to be one of the most fundamental books on the subject. [9] The modern theory of beer style is largely derived from this book, in which Jackson categorised a variety of beers from around the world in local style groups suggested by local customs and names. [10]
His work had a particular influence on the popularisation of the brewing culture in North America, and in 1989 he hosted a television series entitled The Beer Hunter, which was shown on Channel 4 in the UK and on the Discovery Channel. It involved several episodes in which Jackson would visit a different country. Episodes featured beer barrels being lined with pitch, and iron foundry workers drinking "light" beer while they worked in hot conditions to quench thirst, practices which he knew were likely to be ended soon.
Jackson considered beer as a component of culture and described beers in their cultural context. Although he travelled around the world and discovered different beer cultures, he was especially fond of the Belgian beers. He was appointed to an honorary officer of the Ridderschap van de Roerstok in 1997 for his important contribution to the international success of the Belgian beers. This honour had previously only been given to brewers. In 1998, Jackson designed and sold 4 beer glasses called "Michael Jackson's Great Beer Glassware Set", each glass for a different type of beer, produced by Rizenhoff Crystal. [11] Shortly after, Jackson also helped create and worked with the only beer club he ever endorsed, Michael Jackson's Rare Beer Club. [12]
Jackson was a reviewer of whiskies, in his book The Malt Whisky Companion, he reviewed a large number of whiskies and gave them marks from 0–100, considering only those with a score above seventy-five worth purchasing. He received the award of "Master of the Quaich".[ citation needed ]
Apart from his work as a journalist and a critic, he was also a fan of rugby league. [13]
Jackson disclosed in December 2006 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease over a decade earlier. [14] He also had diabetes.
Jackson died of a heart attack in his home on the morning of 30 August 2007 at the age of 65. [15] He was survived by his girlfriend of 26 years, Paddy Gunningham, and her daughter and grandchildren. [16]
Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the grain to sugars, which dissolve in water to form wort. Fermentation of the wort by yeast produces ethanol and carbonation in the beer. Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in the world, the most widely consumed, and the third most popular drink after water and tea. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents, such as gruit, herbs, or fruits, may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, natural carbonation is often replaced with forced carbonation.
Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale.
Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at that time. Different brewing practices and hop quantities have resulted in a range of tastes and strengths within the pale ale family. Pale ale is a kind of ale.
Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German Weizenbier and Belgian witbier; other types include Lambic, Berliner Weisse, and Gose.
Pale lager is a pale-to-golden lager beer with a well-attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness.
Talisker distillery is an island single malt Scotch whisky distillery based in Carbost, Scotland on the Minginish Peninsula on the Isle of Skye.
Berliner Weisse is a cloudy, sour beer of around 3.5% alcohol by volume. It is a regional variation of the wheat beer style from Northern Germany, dating back to at least the 16th century. It can be made from combinations of malted barley and wheat, with the stipulation that the malts are kilned at very low temperatures or even air-dried to minimise colour formation. The fermentation takes place with a mixture of yeast and lactic acid bacteria, a prerequisite that creates the lactic acid taste, a distinguishing feature of Berliner Weisse.
Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick, west London, England, was the brewing division of Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC, a family-run business from its foundation in 1845 until 2019, when it was sold to the Japanese Asahi Breweries.
Beer in Belgium includes pale ales, lambics, Flemish red ales, sour brown ales, strong ales and stouts. In 2018, there were 304 breweries in Belgium, including international companies, such as AB InBev, and traditional breweries, such as Trappist monasteries. On average, Belgians drink 68 litres of beer each year, down from around 200 each year in 1900. Most beers are bought or served in bottles, rather than cans, and almost every beer has its own branded, sometimes uniquely shaped, glass. In 2016, UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture on their list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Dortmunder Export or Dortmunder is a pale lager originally brewed by Dortmunder Union in Dortmund, Germany, in 1873. It is a soft-textured beer influenced by the Pilsner lager brewed in Plzeň.
Emerson's Brewery Limited is a microbrewery located in Dunedin, New Zealand established in 1992. Emerson's produces eight year-round beers and three seasonal beers. In November 2012 the brewery was purchased by Australasian company Lion, which in turn is owned by Japanese brewing giant Kirin.
Kasauli Brewery and Distillery, at Kasauli in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh state of India, was established in late 1920s during the British Raj by Edward Abraham Dyer. It started producing Asia's first beer brand, the "Lion Beer", and India's first single malt whisky, the ""Solan No. 1". Both of these brands are still in production. After the swap of brewery at Kasauli to Solan distillery and vice versa in 1835, presently Lion beer is produced at Solan and Solan No.1 whisky is produced at the Kasauli distillery using some of the original equipment including the copper pot still. The production of Lion beer was moved 25 km east to Solan Brewery at Solan, due to water scarcity, after civilian Kasauli hill station resort town came up around the brewery. Lion beer was originally an India Pale Ale (IPA), but the beer style was changed to lager in 1960s.
Panimoravintola Beer Hunter's is a Finnish brewery, distillery and a restaurant. Founded in 1998 and located in the city of Pori, the brewery restaurant started distilling malt whisky in 2001.
Lucy Saunders is an American writer whose work includes articles and books about craft beer, cooking with beer, and pairing food with beer. She is the author of five cookbooks including Cooking with Beer, Grilling with Beer, and The Best of American Beer & Food Along with two other women she contributed to an international collection of essays, Beer Hunter, Whisky Chaser in honor of Michael Jackson (writer), the British author of articles and books about single malt whisky and beer.
Tripel is a term used by brewers mainly in the Low Countries, some other European countries, and the U.S. to describe a strong pale ale, loosely in the style of Westmalle Tripel. The origin of the term is unknown, though the main theory is that it indicates strength in some way. It was used in 1956 by the Trappist brewery, Westmalle, to rename the strongest beer in their range, though both the term Tripel and the style of beer associated with the name, were in existence before 1956. The style of Westmalle's Tripel and the name was widely copied by the breweries of Belgium, and in 1987 another Trappist brewery, the Koningshoeven in the Netherlands, expanded their range with a beer called La Trappe Tripel, though they also produced a stronger beer they termed La Trappe Quadrupel. The term spread to the U.S. and other countries, and is applied by a range of secular brewers to a strong pale ale in the style of Westmalle Tripel.
Beer in Scotland is mostly produced by breweries in the central Lowlands, which also contain the main centres of population. Edinburgh and Alloa in particular became noted for the export of beer around the world in the 19th century.
All About Beer was an English-language magazine published by All About Beer, LLC. Under previous owner Chris Rice, it filed for bankruptcy in 2019. It was located in Durham, NC, USA and was published six times per year, plus one special annual issue. At its peak it had a distribution of over 46,000, with subscribers and newsstand sales in more than 40 countries.
Worthington's White Shield was an India pale ale (IPA) available principally in bottle conditioned form.
Porter is a style of beer that was developed in London in the early 18th century. It is well-hopped and dark in appearance owing to the use of brown malt. The name is believed to have originated from its popularity with porters. Porter is a type of ale.