When somebody talks about “MJ’s list of best beers” do you think about the latest offering from Men’s Journal or one from Michael Jackson?
Me too.
Working on another project I recently hauled out his first Pocket Guide to Beer, published in 1982 and opened enough times since that the 18 pages containing Guinness through Anchor keep falling out.
This was the only pocket guide where Jackson used a 5-star rating. In following editions the highest was 4. In essence, each 5-star beer in this edition was a best of breed, so Zum Uerige Altbier represents that style, Westmalle Tripel that one, etc. (More about this at the bottom.)
Just for fun, here are the 42 beers that Jackson awarded 5 stars. (He also gave all 12 traditional Lambic brewers in the Senne Valley 5 stars “for dedication to an elusive craft,” adding “their products vary according to the good years and the bad, a greater discrimination would be illogical.”)
Czech Republic
Pilsner Urquell
Germany
Jever Pilsner
Einbecker Ur-Bock
Dortmunder Kronen Export
Zum Uerige Altbier
Kulminator 28 Urtyp Hell
Hofbräuhaus Maibock
Hofbräuhaus Edel-Weizen
Paulaner Urtyp
Paulaner Salvator
Schlenkerla Märzen
Spaten Dunkel Export
Spaten Ur-Märzen
Weihenstephan Weizenbock
Kindl Berliner Weisse
Belgium
Duvel
Liefmans Goudenband Speciaal Provisie
Rodenbach
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Westmalle Tripel
Hoegaards Wit
Saison Dupont
Chimay Red
Chimay Blue
Orval
Britain and Ireland
Brakspear’s Pale Ale
Courage Imperial Russian Stout
Fuller’s ESB
Gales Prize Old Ale
Whitbread Gold Label
Mackeson
Marston’s Pedigree
Marston’s Owd Roger
Highgate Mild
Thomas Hardy’s Ale
Belhaven 80/-
Traquair House
Guinness Extra Stout (Britain and Ireland)
Guinness Foreign Extra Stout
France
Jenlain
United States
Anchor Steam
Australia
Cooper’s Sparkling Ale
In the introduction Jackson explained a beer rated 5 stars was “a world classic either because it has outstanding complexity and distinction or because it is the definitive example of its style, and no matter whether everyone is capable of appreciating it; some people probably don’t like first-growth Bordeaux, either.”
In later editions he introduced the star ratings by making it clear they compared beers within a region to each other. For this first one, he wrote, “The whole scale of ratings in the German section tends to be high because all beers in that country are of what must be recognized internationally as a particularly good quality.”