Memorials: work to be done

We need to get to work.

Beer writers need to get a Michael Jackson memorial scholarship put together. We have several ideas; let's settle on one and implement.

The loss of Jay Misson is still raw, but we should grab things now and create his brewing memorial. Jay taught a huge number of people how to brew (and how to work, and how to play, and how to live): why not a lager brewing scholarship? Probably under way, but if not...let's coalesce, people.

Just the coolest damned thing

Check out this event on the Michael Jackson Toast list:

"MESZ in the UERIGE-Hof
Bergerstrasse 1, Dusseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia
Description
On Sunday we want to open a fresh barrel of UERIGE Sticke (Unfiltered, about 2 weeks before Sticke-day) to remember Michael Jackson and his work in Düsseldorf. We start at 8 p.m. MESZ in the UERIGE-Hof, the place where Josef Schnitzler met Michael the first time in the early Eighties."

Now...is that just pretty damned cool, or what?

Michael Jackson Toast: the Final Push

Folks,

The Michael Jackson Toast planned for September 30 (9:00 PM Eastern) is starting to pick up participants. But at this point, bars/brewpubs/homebrew clubs only have 11 days to publicize their part in it, and get people aware. They need to get on board NOW. You can help them make that decision.

I know beervolk who have printed off a handful of the flyers you can download at the Beer Hunter website and hit the streets, personally going to each beer bar and brewpub in their town (the tireless and peripatetic Sandy Mitchell did it in Baltimore; it took him two days). Get every bar and brewpub you can involved: this is MICHAEL. We owe him a debt of gratitude for all this lovely beer and whisky, and one way to make a down payment is to raise a glass and write a check to the people who are fighting the disease that took him down.

When you successfully persuade them to join (and you will; I gots faith in yez), please ask them to post their info on Upcoming; if they add the "MJBeerHunter" tag to their information, it will go on the feed that's on websites all over: people are looking for where to go, and they want to find that bar!

Let's get busy!

Another Jackson Eulogy

My latest Condé Nast Portfolio column is up, a look at Michael Jackson's influence on the beer industry. My thanks to Ken Wells, senior editor at Portfolio and fellow beer lover, for green-lighting the idea.