The Tickers Club

I tick. Have for the past 5 years, and probably always will. If it's new, or I haven't had it yet, I want to try it. If I don't like it, then so what? I guess I'll never buy it again.

I'm pretty adventurous with food, too, so I think it all kind of goes together.

 

I think that, if I could, I would be close to a ticker. I've always lived in Canada, which means that all liquor (including beer imports) are controlled though provincial licensing and importing boards. That means that very few American beers make it past the boarder without a personal trip down south. Aside from a set of seasonal import beers (10-15) every couple of months it is really unusual for me to be able to walk into a liquor store and see something I haven't had. I keep on top of liquor store imports and seasonal craft beer releases, but that is no where near enough beer for me to be trying something new every night: there simply isn't enough selection. Plus, it's hard to buy many local beers in anything other than sealed 6-packs and mixing and matching is usually frowned upon or not allowed.

That being said, I come from beer-geek-dom from being a huge music fan when I was younger. I was always on top of the new releases and finding the truly classical records for a genera. I liked everything! That being said, and if I could make an analogy, I still have favorite records much like I still have favorite beers. While I really liked finding new music everyday occasionally it's really nice to relax with an album you love and can listen to on repeat for hours. Sometimes I just want to sit down and listen to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a couple of times, much like I might want to drink a 6-pack of an American Pale Ale that I love (St. Ambroise or 1892). I always love trying new beers (as much as my country allows!) but sometimes I gain so much on repeat listenings/tastings - those little subtleties - that I cannot imagine simply trying a beer once and being done with it in the same way that I couldn't imagine just listing to a record only once. (For that matter, I usually buy two or three bottles of beers I haven't had before so I can try them a couple of times to really give them a fair review.)

 

Ticker right here. Been 21 for less than a year, reviewed somewhere near 140 and tasted probably 200. (don't go back and look at some of the dates on the early ones, I may or may not have been legal)

And I'm not ashamed to admit that thew only things I drink more than once have to be tremendous (KBS, Bigfoot, etc.) or the BMC's cause I'm in college.

 

I don't tick on BA, I don't review at all, but what I do use is an app on my iPhone just to keep track of things I've had and quickly rate them (to my own tastes, not to style as I would want to do on BA).

Maybe it will interest some of you - http://www.brewgene.com/

It doesn't matter the beer, I just want to keep track and it's nice to have it on my phone. If you are out (liquor store, bars, stealing form someones cellar) and you can't remember if you tried something, check your list real quick.

As some others have mentioned, I also love trying new beers, but always have room for my good ole' standbys.

 

Since February 28, 2011, I have "ticked" 784 unique beers.

I am a ticker, or as some people call it, an "alcoholic".

 

I was more or less a ticker for about two years but the price/time to play the game is too high and frustrating for me now-a-days. I would say the last 6 months or so I have really concentrated on homebrewing and improving my beers so that I can brew something new all the time and enjoy it.

I still buy commercial beer but I really do not go out of my way to get anything special. If there is a release that is relatively local I consider going and if a regular trading partner want to trade I will, but I no longer chase down personal whales. I may start again in the future when I get a few more $$ to play the game with and maybe some more time on my hands to chase down a beer or two, but for now its all homebrewing and enjoying what I can relatively easily obtain instead of wasting my time and energy checking every store every day to see if the beer of the week has landed.

 

My friends tease me because I have to check into every beer I have on Untappd, but I don't go out of my way for new ticks.

... but 891 beers before turning 22 ain't bad!

 

When I finally found a taste for craft, I wanted to try everything!

For me now, when it becomes less about the appreciation and more about the tick, I'll find another hobby.

 

I do tick off my beers using untappd but I have less than 300 in a year. I will seek out a new beer when I'm at a bar or shopping at a store. But I rarely go after whales just to say I've had them or boast about it. I don't think there is nothing wrong with keeping track of what you've had. If you're spending too much money/time to get something just to say you've had it then that's a frowned upon ticker.

 

True tickers are not prejudice against mediocrity.

 

Not sure I can take you seriously until I first know how many beers you've ticked. If your number is high enough, then we'll chat further.

 

< Ticker

But I don't do it just to tick it (I don't really care about the number), I do it because I really just want to try new beers.

This is true for me too, except even the local stuff I like to try new beers and there's always new local stuff to try, so aside from the 1/3 on the beers of fame, the other 2/3 is still new beer to me.

 

Also new to craft, and I guess I would be in the ticking phase (in the sense that I am trying as many new beers as I can to figure out which styles I enjoy, and just learn more about beer). But I have heard the term 'ticker' used in a negative connotation. As in people trying to make their way through the Top100 just to say they did it. But as long as you are enjoying beer, I say enjoy it however you want.

 

Variety is the spice of life...

 

I have tasted and reviewed 1472 beers since April 28, 2010... God only knows how many I haven't reviewed. Still have a notebook slam full of notes to type up. Tick tick tick...

 

my thoughts exactly

..though i must say, i wasnt much of a fan of Sixpoint's Spice of Life series.

 

Happy Ticker here. When I go into the bar or store I always look to see what I haven't had before, and generally go for that first. I rarely drink 2 of the same beer in a row to begin with, so why not try some new things? I started doing reviews just as a way of keeping a list, if the "Hads" feature had been available back when I started reviewing, I would have just done that. Now, I'm just so in the habit of grabbing a chunk of paper and writing down a few notes, that reviews are almost automatic, although I do use the hads feature for small servings. Generally (there have been a couple of exceptions) I'll only review off of a minimum of a 6oz pour, use hads for smaller tastes. Can we get " Tickers On A Search Together" ( TOAST) T-shirts made? Tickers Unite!

 

I'm down for one in a Medium...