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Michael Jackson
(27 March 1942 - 30 August 2007)
Time to get a
little serious this month
as
I join
(hopefully thousands of) others around the world in celebrating
the work of someone I believe was the greatest whisky author to
date. Although I've always had a passion for whisky, his "Whisky
Companion" was never far from my hands and the way he wrote
about whisky was the sole inspirition for my own style of
writing and perhaps even for the existence of this website.
Welcome to the 6th IWD
(27th March 2013):
What's
it all about?
International Whisk(e)y Day
was officially and originally launched at the
Whisky Festival of Northern Netherlands,
in the
presence of various whisky writers, among whom were
Charles
MacLean,
Dave Broom,
Martine
Nouet and
Helen
Arthur. This was an
initiative to honour their late friend
Michael
Jackson and they
approached various whisky friends for support.
The official announcement read:
On
this date let every whisk(e)y lover annually raise a dram -
wherever in the world he or she may be - to honour the many
unsung heroes of the past and present, who have been crafting
the King O' Drinks for centuries and
will hopefully continue to do so
until the end of time.
The launch of
International Whisk(e)y Day was supported in writing by
(in
alphabetical order):
Helen
Arthur,
Dave Broom,
Ulf Buxrud,
Ian Buxton,
David Cox,
John
Hansell,
Albert
Heidema,
Larry Kass,
Jim McEwan,
Charles
MacLean,
Martine
Nouet,
Dominic
Roskrow,
Jim
Rutledge,
David
Scheurich,
Carolyn Smagalski,
Gavin Smith,
George
Stone,
Wouter
Wapenaar,
Neil Wilson,
David
Wishart,
Ian
Wisniewski,
Hideo
Yamaoka and
Ronald Zwartepoorte.
Michael Jackson; An
English writer and journalist,
and author of several influential books about beer and whisky,
he was a regular contributor to most British broadsheets,
particularly
The
Independent and
The
Observer. Jackson's
books have sold over three million copies worldwide and have
been translated into eighteen different languages.
He was an important figure in the world of
malt whisky and his 1989 book, entitled
Michael Jackson's Malt Whisky Companion,
is the best-selling book on the subject in
the world.
At the time of his death Jackson had been
suffering from
Parkinson's disease for
at least a decade.
Wherever you are, whatever you're doing on March 27th, please
spare a thought for Michael and for all those suffering from
Parkinson's disease and raise a glass of your favourite dram.
Slàinte Michael
(My
thanks to the good folk behind the
International Day Website
for permission to reproduce their contant)
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