THE SUMMER OF BEERS DISCONNECT

With another summer done and gone, I thought I would reflect on what a long strange trip it's been. It has seemed like for every good thing that has come along, two bad things had to happen. With the opening of such fine places as Theresa's Next Door and Dock Street and of course the new Monks, came the bad news, Yards Brewing imploding, the Independence Brewpub being closed in the middle of the day, and last but not least, the death of three people who gave their all to the beer community. Steve Harrison, who was 56 when he passed away earlier this summer, was the VP for Sierra Nevada. He had worked his way up from being the first employee and sales guy back in 82, to second in command. His death remains a mystery. John White who wrote books and gave tours of Belgium and Germany, had a website called the White Beer Travels. He was 62 when he passed away. His love of travel in the beer world were second to none and you can see that in his writing. The straw that really broke the camels back was the death of Micheal Jackson. Back in the late seventies as I struggled to find good beer, I came across to me, what was the Sears Toy Book for adults. I want this, look at that, and of course, what the hell is that? People drink this? It was beer I thought I would never see, much less taste. Years later I would run across him at events, but never really met him. It was the first of two dinners I got to attend with the help of Matt Guyer and Jack Curtin at Monks, where I had my chance. We just about had the whole back room and as usual the sound system wasn't up to snuff. So here comes Micheal back after every course to repeat to us what he said up front. We told him to relax and sit down and enjoy his dessert and beer with us. Now of course he didn't want to impose, but we talked him into it and for a few minutes he was a happy man. Not because of me mind you, but he had five minutes to himself before the picture takers and autograph seekers came a running. You could tell right away when he talked, he enjoyed what he was doing, but at the same time he would have liked to do it at a bit slower pace. The last two times I saw him were a study in contrast. At the GABF last year, he looked so bad, I could not believe he was even there. Than we find out later on, that he ended up in the hospital that night. Fast forward to this spring at the UPENN show and he was back to being himself again, cracking a joke or two and telling stories that usually had nothing to do with the subject at hand. He was and still is craft beers patron of "Cheers", where everybody needs to know his name.