What a sad day! Michael Jackson, the great Beer Hunter, has died at his home in London, England after a long, quiet battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Lew Bryson, the blogger and beer writer from Philly, seems to have broken the news, but it’s quickly spreading all over BeerAdvocate and the entire beer world. All About Beer’s new homepage has a nice tribute. We think it’s poignant to post his last AAB column (still in pre-production) for the masses to read. It’s bittersweet. He still had plans for both writing and travel.

I am hoping that my next book will be an account of my dealings with Parkinson’s Disease. I have lived with Parkinson for many years, but I have only recently allowed him out of the closet. I find myself referring to ‘my Parkinson’s’. We do this, don’t we? We refer to our ailments possessively, as though we are staking a claim. Perhaps we are. Perhaps I am. I would rather him inside the tent, pissing out, than the reverse. Pissing, with excessive frequency and desperate urgency is one of his annoying habits. I cannot exclude him, so I embrace him. It is not the bear-hug of old buddies. We are more like heavyweights in a clinch, or even schoolboys locked in a playground fight.

If you take your beer seriously and don’t have a Michael Jackson book in your library, you are missing something. His Ultimate Beer Guide is probably one of the handiest books ever, teaching you oodles about style, aroma/nose, palette, lacing, etc. He single-handedly revived interest in Belgian beer with Great Beers of Belgium. His travels and writings have influenced oodles of beer lovers worldwide.

We raise our tulip to the Beer Hunter. R.I.P.

Source: All About Beer
Image: The Beer Hunter