March 27th, 2011
Happy Birthday Michael: beer hunter, whisky chaser and my mentor. Save a seat for me in that great pub in the sky.
I’ll get there eventually. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to continue on where you left off. (But it will take many more people than just me to fill your void.)
July 28th, 2010
I was in London, in the Diageo offices on this particular morning. Diageo was introducing several new limited edition whiskies, and a handful of whisky writers were getting a preview. Among the attendees was my good friend Michael Jackson.
We sampled probably close to a dozen whiskies, with the tasting concluding around lunchtime. I hadn’t seen Michael for several months, so I suggested we have lunch together. We weren’t far away from the Fuller’s Brewery and he said he knew of a great Fuller’s pub just down from the brewery along the Thames called The Dove. It was a short stroll away, so that’s where we went.
Well, the Fuller’s Chiswick Bitter was in perfect condition, so we each had a pint before lunch. With lunch, it was a pint each of Fuller’s London Pride. Delicious!
We were finishing up our lunch, having a great time together getting caught up with stories ab0ut our travels, the whisky business, etc. Not wanting the good times to end, I proposed we each have another pint. It was about 2:oo pm, and I didn’t have any plans for the rest of the afternoon.
Michael hesitated for a moment, contemplating the whiskies we tasted in the morning, along with the the two pints of beer we enjoyed with lunch. Then he responded, with a slight grin (like he has in the picture I included of him above):
“Better make mine a half pint, John. I have a Five O’clock deadline for a story I’m doing for the Independent. It’s on vodka. I need to go back to my office, taste 20 vodkas and then write the story.”
I just cracked up laughing! I don’t know if it was exactly 20 vodkas, but it was something like that. And I (unfortunately) never did get to read the vodka story in the Independent, but I sure am glad I wasn’t the Independent’s copy editor that day. 
July 19th, 2009
His autobiography. The stories he could have told…
June 2nd, 2009
I’m back from a long weekend of R & R. (Sorry for the delay in posting.) I had time to think about a lot of things. One of them was Michael, his impact on the whisky and beer worlds, and the void he left behind.
For many years, Michael blazed a trail with his writing and public appearances. Even in his latter years, when he wrote less about the drink itself and more about his perspective on drinking, he was still very influential to all of us.
Now that he’s gone, who is out there to pick up where he left off? Let’s just focus on whisky for the time being. Obviously there will never be another Michael Jackson, but is there a clear, emerging leader who whisky enthusiasts can gravitate towards and respect?
By the way, it’s not going to be me. I don’t have the talent of a Michael Jackson to accomplish what he did, and I am not willing to make the personal sacrifice that must be made to be a leader in this field. [Drinks writers are often divorced, have health issues, don't have children, and have little free time to enjoy life outside of the drinks world.]
So, who do you see emerging as the industry leader? And why?
March 30th, 2009
Continuing our guest blogger program, here’s a great blog by John Glaser of Compass Box Whisky. As most of you already know, John is a leader in producing small, high quality Scotch whiskies–many of which incorporate “outside of the box” experimentation. His ideas are fresh and exciting, and his whiskies are always very good.
Thank you John for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us. For all of you who read his blog, feel free to comment.
A few weeks ago I was invited by new friends Sam and Fairfax to see the still they’d just installed in their new office in London.
Sam and Fairfax are planning to start a distillery restaurant in London, making their own gins, vodkas, and who-knows-what-else, but before finding their restaurant site, they plan to install their still and begin working it.
I hadn’t been to their office before, so the morning of the visit I checked the address. Twenty-seven Nasmyth Street. That sounds familiar, I thought. Isn’t that the street in Hammersmith where Michael Jackson used to live? I checked my address book and sure enough, that was the exact address of Michael Jackson’s old office, next door to the house where he lived.
When I showed up I was amazed, actually a little emotional. Sam and Fairfax had moved into Michael Jackson’s old office and installed a still. How perfect, I thought, for the legacy of the industry’s great man.
Michael would have been pleased meeting two guys like Sam and Fairfax regardless of where they set up shop. That’s because Sam and Fairfax represent an important new wave in the spirits industry, one moving across the globe. They represent the small businesses, the small brands that are moving the spirits industry closer to its artisan roots. I’ve been travelling around the world for Compass Box for many years, and I can tell you that more and more, around the world, there is a cultural shift toward an interest in understanding more about distilled spirits. People want to know the people behind the businesses and brands, the stories, the processes and the techniques.
As a whiskymaker, I am excited and pleased to see the growth of small distilling businesses. Just in the last month, in addition to visiting Sam and Fairfax, I’ve been in touch with my friend Henric Molin on the island of Hven, Sweden, who has recently started distilling after many years of planning. (He’s selecting individual trees from America for his casks!) I’ve spoken with Jean Donnay in Brittany in France who is preparing to release his first own-distilled whiskies. I had a fellow from New Zealand come to my office last week to talk to me about his plans for a small whisky distillery in his country.
And of course, in the US there is an explosion of activity among small scale distillers. Being an American abroad, I’m excited about this and sometimes wish I were home taking part.
All of this is all driven by the increased interest people around the world have in the art and craft of distilled spirits. This is real, and it’s growing (big branded spirits take note! …Or perhaps not; just let us get on with things!). I recently had a call from a bartender in London, re-writing his spirits list, and he wanted to know every conceivable detail about our whiskies–not just the distilleries we draw from, but the water source we use to dilute at bottling!
It’s a grand cultural shift, a new wave, and it’s global. With time, we all stand to benefit by having more choices and more interesting choices when it comes the spirits we drink. Sam and Fairfax, in Michael Jackson’s old office, are at the leading edge of this movement in the UK. (In fact, they have been instrumental in shaping UK legislation in this area which I am sure will help open the floodgates for new, small distilleries across the UK in the coming years.)
Their business is called Sipsmith. They begin distilling this month. They’re still working on their website but check back at www.sipsmith.co.uk . Small artisan businesses, operating in an industry dominated by mega corporate brands, need and deserve our support. The more businesses there are like Sam’s and Fairfax’s, the more interesting and rewarding spirits offerings will be, and we will all benefit in the long run.
Michael would be proud.
March 19th, 2009
This is just a random thought here. Nothing more than that. It came to me the other night when I was strolling through my whiskies looking for something to drink (after I already had a couple of drams).
I have a lot of whisky samples, but surely nothing like Michael had. I remember Michael showing me his samples many years ago. After his unfortunate passing, I wonder what ever became of all of them? I’m sure people would have paid just to walk through the room with all his samples and look at them all. No doubt there were some interesting gems in there, dating back many years.
The good news is that I’m seeing some of them surface for charitable causes. I was told some were at Whisky Live in London which were sold for charity. And I recently read that Berry Brothers and Rudd released a bottling which contained some of his samples. This is all good news, because I would have hated to see such a treasure just fade away.
Another random thought here: they could have put it all on display somewhere. Maybe we should have a whisky museum somewhere, with a special area dedicated to Michael Jackson? I visited the Country Music Hall of Fame once, and they had a section dedicated to Hank Williams. Surely Michael deserves the same?
Your thoughts?
March 5th, 2009
After we lost Michael Jackson, fellow writer and editor Ian Buxton approached me and other beer and whisky writers to see if we could collaborate on a new book of essays, with the proceeds going to Parkinson’s research (the disease that afflicted Michael). How could we say no to such a good cause in the name of someone who inspired us so much?
A dozen of the best writers (six whisky writers, six beer writers, including yours truly) each wrote a chapter, and now the book is being printed. It will debut later this month on March 27th, Michael’s birthday. I read through a draft of the book, and the essays are diverse and entertaining. My chapter is entitled “My friend, whisky” and I describe my relationship with whisky (both good and bad) from when I was a child through to today.
Here’s the list of contributors, in no particular order:
Whisky: F. Paul Pacult, Dave Broom, Ian Buxton, Charles MacLean, Hans Offringa, John Hansell
Beer: Steve Beaumont, Julie Johnson, Roger Protz, , Gavin Smith, Conrad Seidl, Lucy Saunders
There’s also a chapter by Carolyn Smagalski, Michael’s partner at the time of his passing.
We are having books shipped to us in time for WhiskyFest Chicago on April 1st, plus we will also be selling it on the Malt Advocate website beginning in April. Price: $18.99.
I have an image of the cover, which I will post up soon. (I’m currently having problems with my blog software uploading images.) It’s pretty cool looking.
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