Michael Jackson. Died 30 August 2007.

At least, that is the tale that Google was telling on the day of singer Michael Jackson’s death on June 27; a story which is neither untimely nor untrue. While Google translated the upsurge of searches for the pop singer as an attack on its Internet infrastructure, for a brief moment, the other Michael Jackson had another few hours in the limelight. The other Michael Jackson, unlike the singer, had a career that didn’t ostensibly end in 1993 when pop music fractured and collapsed upon itself nor did he become a constant and unwavering source of media spectacle.

The other Michael Jackson was the Beer Hunter.

In 1976, Jackson published his first book about beer, The English Pub, which managed to echo the aims of the burgeoning Campaign for Real Ale in the UK, an advocacy group devoted to keeping traditional English beers and ciders alive as well as the pub culture that surrounds them. While Jackson was not involved with the campaign in its early days, he became an ardent supporter.

Where his first book met with limited success, his second, The World Guide to Beer became the bible for the international beer tourist and the basis for how we talk about beer styles: categorising them by both ingredient and locality. The most recent edition contains almost 500 beers from around the world. The notion of beer as a civilised beverage in the English-speaking world begins with Michael Jackson, a beverage worth pondering and discussing. It was a book that coincided with the explosion of microbreweries in the USA and the first challenges to the bland, mass market American lagers that dominated the market. It opened the eyes of many brewers to the possibility of beer.

His view of Australian beer, when he visited Australia on various occasions was excoriating. The Australian media would ask him of his perspective on the local brews:

"But what about Australian beer?" they would persist. The difficulty is that there is no such thing. There is beer made in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, but there is nothing uniquely Australian about it.

At the time, Australia brewed mostly international-style lagers which are only notable for their utter blandness. A good one tastes like nothing at all.

Later, he admits an enthusiasm for Cooper’s and a penchant for Chuck Hahn’s beers at James Squire (and especially the porter, which still commands respect ). It’s sad that he missed the microbrewing revolution that since occurred in Australia. Where in the late 90s, there was a handful of breweries in the country, now there must be close to one hundred. The trend of Australian microbrews is to stick to well tried recipes but some are beginning to innovate and perfect new recipes, and take risks with limited runs of seasonal editions. They are the sort of beers worth hunting.

It would make Michael Jackson proud.