Real Beer, Inc. Announces the Launch of Michael Jackson's Great Beers of Belgium; Monthly Gourmet Selections.

Business Editors/Food and Beverage Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2001

American connoisseurs are increasingly aware that the most individualistic "fine wines" of the beer world are made in Belgium.

The problem lies in finding some of these great brews, and learning about them. Which are the Champagnes of Belgium? Should a beer named after an Abbot be rich and full-bodied? Should a cherry beer be sweetened?

Michael Jackson (not the singer, but The Beerhunter) is famously passionate about Belgian brews. He has been in Belgium recently, hunting down specialties that are not available in the United States and capturing them for a new beer-of-the-month club.

The new club, announced by Real Beer, Inc., is to be called Michael Jackson's the Great Beers of Belgium.

Michael Jackson is the world's most widely published writer on beer. He has made television films, writes for magazines and newspapers, and has produced ten books. The only one devoted to a single country is called The Great Beers of Belgium. This book inspired the new club.

The author, honored by Crown Prince Phillipe of Belgium for his writing on the country's beers, will produce background stories and tasting notes to accompany each selection (and answer some of those questions about the beers).

The club, which is currently accepting members for delivery commencing in July, provides enthusiasts with 12 bottles of gourmet Belgian beer from a different brewery each month. These beers are not available in the USA through traditional channels. Among the beers selected for the club is one made by Pierre Celis, a Belgian brewer who is famous on both sides of the Atlantic. He revived the "White Beer" style in Belgium, and then founded the Celis Brewery in Texas. The brewery was later sold to Miller. Back in Belgium, Celis developed Grottenbier, a beer matured by the champagne method in caves near the river Meuse. It is strong dark ale, in which small quantities of "exotic" spices are added to create a gentle, balancing dryness and crispness. When Jackson tasted an early batch, in December 1998, he named it his Beer of the Year.

For the beer lover this club may seem too good to be true and there is a catch: because of the limited size of some of the breweries, the club is restricted to 5,000 members. And it is expected to be at capacity well before the first delivery.

Launched in 1994 as one of the industry's first online players, Real Beer, Inc. (www.realbeer.com), quickly became the home of the largest beer community in the world. In 2000, the company merged with worldbeertour.com, owners of The Michael Jackson Real Beer Tour, the world's premier beer-of-the-month club. Real Beer Inc., now the world's largest source for beer and information about beer, boasts over 500,000 unique monthly visitors, 120,000 email subscribers and 150,000+ pages of content about beer.

www.breworld.com www.probrewer.com www.realbeer.co.nz