From the Editor (Issue 18)

Marty Jones, who is one of our regular contributors, occasionally had the pleasure of hanging out with the late Michael Jackson when the beloved and slightly quirky authority on beer styles and all things beer came to Denver. “Visiting breweries with Michael was like hitting blues clubs with Muddy Waters or going to working class rock bars with Bruce Springsteen,” said Jones. 

Like others, Jones found Jackson to be a humble, engaging and funny man in addition to his thoughtful and encyclopedic approach to beer. I never had the pleasure of meeting Jackson, so I asked Jones if he would venture a guess at what the “Beer Hunter” might say about the current state of craft beer and brewing seven or so years after his seminal blog went dark.

“That’s a real toughie,” said Jones. “Perhaps something right to the point of it all: ‘It has certainly come a long way, hasn’t it? It’s quite delightful, isn’t it?’”

Veteran beer writer Jay Brooks, who profiled Jackson in Issue 6, recalled how Jackson made his point in very engaging speeches through anecdotal digressions. Facile with language, Englishman Jackson’s blogs were erudite but avoided being stuffy through mockingly good humor and other devices such as an appreciative focus on the most recent beer he’d been drinking in travels around the world and the stories behind them. Or, related subjects! 

By way of digression, this is an introduction to our three main features in this issue about the rising popularity of American IPAs, the innovative spirit of Larry Bell, and how investment money of all types is currently influencing the state of beer in America. The scene has come a long way since the days Jackson visited craft breweries in America in the 1980s and encouraged their owners to have faith.

These days, major brewers, who once marginalized flavorful beer like IPAs, are buying up successful smaller independent breweries now that the formerly off-beat styles are moving back toward the mainstream. What would Jackson have said about this development? He might observe that brewing has always been a tumultuous business and who can blame those who decide to choose more solvency and less tumult? 

It seems to me that as long as there are brewers who bring soul-searching dedication to their work, drinkers who like flavorful beer will have plenty of choices when it comes time to hoist one.

-- Jonathan Ingram