Michael Jackson

March 1, 2002 | Appreciation

A Pilsner in Prague is Only the Beginning

In an hotel room in the Czech Republic, I roll out of bed, make myself some coffee, and check my e-mail. It is there again: that question. It is a question of style. Every day, I am asked questions about ...

January 1, 2002 | Appreciation

A Few Pints with Pandora

Can you imagine a world in which all bread was white, sliced; all wine white, “dry” (and all people white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant?)? A monotonous place it would be....

November 1, 2001 | Appreciation

Great Styles: Cartesian Ale

A friend calls: “Fancy going to hear some music tonight?” I ask: “What do you have in mind?” He tells me the name of an artist, or a band. I have never heard of them. “It’s not medieval chamber music ...

September 1, 2001 | Appreciation

Wonderful Beers…Must it be Europe?

Which is the best beer? What do you think of the beer in this city/state/country? Where in the world are the best beers? How do ours compare?” These questions haunt my dreams, and I wake up answering them on breakfast ...

July 1, 2001 | Appreciation

Blue Collar Brews?

The man who would have been my grandfather on my mother’s side died of drink before I was born. My mother was therefore nervous of alcohol, and rarely consumed it except at times of celebration, and then in unfestively small ...

May 1, 2001 | Appreciation

Why I’m Rumpled: Was It the Yorkshire Squares?

Yet again, I have been rumpled. Quoting me in an article about the serving temperatures of ales, the Wall Street Journal described me as being “rumpled.” It is true that I have a remorseless inability to be tidy in dress ...