Farewell to the great beer hunter

Michael Jackson's funeral will take place tomorrow, Friday 14 September. It will mark not the end, but a new beginning for Michael's work.

He was and is likely to remain the greatest ever beer writer. From the mid-1970s, he single-handedly put beer - good beer - on the map.

I had been writing about the subject for a year when a vast tome called The World Guide To Beer thudded on to my desk. Until then,

I had naively thought that the British brewed bitter, the Irish stout and the rest of the world produced lager.

As I read that remarkable book, I discovered there was much more to beer. The Germans, for example, made wheat beers in Bavaria, Alt or "old" beer in Düsseldorf and Kölsch beer in Cologne, all members of the ale family.

Locked away behind the Iron Curtain at the time, Michael had managed to dig out information about the superb Pilsners and golden lagers in Czechoslovakia. He informed his startled readers of a long brewing tradition in northern France and then took us over the border to reveal the remarkable secrets of Belgian beer.

We learned that beer was the glue that kept together the fractured country of Belgium, divided linguistically and culturally. Trappist monks brewed beer while commercial brewers made abbey beers from the same tradition. Belgium has sour red beers, spiced wheat beers, strong brown ales and the remarkable lambic beers made by spontaneous fermentation.

Belgium was to be a recurring theme of Michael's working life. He produced five editions of his book Great Beers Of Belgium and he was given a special award by Crown Prince Philippe for his services to Belgian beer.

He became a major influence in the United States as well. He visited the country for several months every year, writing and lecturing. He wrote extensively about the American craft-brewing revolution that was transforming beer in a country for too long dominated by over-promoted pale lagers.

While he was a well-known and respected figure in his own country, Michael was a super-star in the US. A few years ago, I was stopped at passport control at Philadelphia airport and asked by the usual grim-faced official why I was entering the country.

"I'm visiting some breweries and writing about beer," I replied. The official's face split into a broad grin. "You write about beer? You must know Michael Jackson!"

At the Great American Beer Festival, where he appeared every year, long queues would form to buy his books and videos. He wrote for many American newspapers and magazines and appeared regularly on TV.

His fame was heightened in 1990 when he launched the first and so far only major TV series on the subject, The Beer Hunter. In six episodes, he encompassed the world, detailing the many styles of beer available, unveiling such rarities as the smoked beers of southern Germany, the sati beers of Finland, and the vast treasure houses of Belgium and the US.

But while Michael toured endlessly, he never forgot his roots. He was born in Yorkshire, started work as a journalist there and delighted in the fine ales of his native county. Occasionally, we would bump into one another in an airport in some far-flung corner of the world and, after comparing notes, he would say how much he was looking forward to a pint of Taylor's Landlord or a glass of Young's Bitter in his adopted home of London.

His books on beer and whisky - he somehow found time to write about whisky, too - sold three million copies. This vast body of work, for which he received many awards, will continue as long as people enjoy the fruit of the grain and the hop.

He opened the eyes of millions to the fact that beer is not just a simple brown or gold refresher, but comes from a long and noble tradition that is part of the history and culture of the civilised world. Brewers and beer-lovers everywhere will always be in his debt.

Tomorrow we say farewell to Michael, but his work will endure. Beer-lovers everywhere should raise a glass to his memory.

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