Tickers?

I'm a ticker. My wife says that beer is my adult version of pokemon cards.

"gotta drink 'em all"

 

I'm a "ticker" when it comes to new beers I see. Lately in my town, that has been very often and expensive but, I certainly do NOT ignore my favourites. My repeats far outnumber my new experiences.

 

I have enough knowledge and experience to not have to worry about what other people think good beer is. I have always tried every new beer that I could find and filed it away in my "secure" memory banks. I cannot try every beer only because I don't have enough time. The good news is that I started long ago.

 

I don't consider myself a ticker, but I've got nothing against that as long as the rating is good. I use BA to determine which beers are worth buying, especially when I travel, and on my most recent trip to Montreal I saved a lot of money on beers that I would have normally tried based on mediocre reviews. Beyond that, I really appreciate a written review, especially if it's an expensive beer.

 

Many of us prefer to judge for ourselves whether a comment adds to the conversation, rather than having them censored. If we think it's out of line, we're quite capable of letting the poster know that.

 

I wonder how many people are like me. When I go into my local liquor store I actually will shy away from new stuff. Unless it is from a brewery I know and respect or I have checked it on here and it sounds interesting I will not buy it. I do not like wasting my money on mediocre and high priced beer. Having said that when I hit a festival or more likely a local tasting I tick away. Last thursday was an example. A local liquor store has great tap takeovers. They had 30 beers from Devi's Backbone. I had 2 hrs. Challenge accepted. I had the two or three I was really interested in and spent time evaluating thoroughly. Once that was done, off to the races. Did I give the other 25 or so a fair shake......nope. Did I have a blast.....yep. I added 30 beers to my list and had fun.

 

I just "tick" all of the beers I've had or tried since Summer 2012, When I actually started keeping track. If I wanted to tick beers I really enjoyed, my tick list would be about 15-20 beers long! Drink away, Tick Away...the choice is yours!

 

actually, that's one of the reasons why we moderate...the user base often doesn't police itself effectively.

rather than having users pile on needlessly, it's part of my role to keep the peace.

 

Yes. Not only do I enjoy trying new beers for the first time but I also hit down notes. I have no problem doing this with 12 oz or just a few oz. Ticker = someone who wants to try as many unique beers as possible.

 

I try new beer when the opportunity is there, but I don't track anything. And I repeat drink many, many beers. My definition of a ticker is someone who seeks out new beer every time they purchase (normally in single format) and tracks each beer they try. The goal being to taste as many beers as possible. If that is what makes your experience the fullest, I see no issue with it...tick away!

 

I dont understand, what makes someone hardcore vs not? My friends think it is pretty hardcore that I always pull out a notebook (i get quite a bit of ribbing for that too).

 

Me a ticker? Not hardly.

I think enough definitions have been given. To me a ticker is someone who given the choice of a rare tick of a beer in a style he doesn't like, or drinking his favorite beer which is equally rare, he will go for the one he hasn't tried.

 

Have you seen "Beer Tickers: Beyond the Ale" documentary? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2178937/

I guess that is what Zimbo is referring to. The unrelenting ticking that spans decades, taking only a sip and saving the rest to trade for another sip, just for another tick in the notebook

The guys in that have broken 40,000 beers drunk, mainly in one small country. That's fairly hardcore. And they grew up before widespread use of the internet and cheap airfares, I imagine the next generations can tick even more with less effort.

 

Eventually you will find, as I now do, that there is even greater joy in having no idea how many beers you have had. I have it narrowed down to between 2000 and 4000. That's as close as I care to come to knowing. I only drink now with the idea of drinking as fine beer as possible, if it is new or an old favorite doesn't enter into it.

 

I think there is a significant difference between people like you who have tried 6464 unique beers AND reviewed them versus someone who has tried 6464 unique beers and merely checked it off in their Hads. I have never met you or interacted with you much on these forums, but I do appreciate that you (and others like you) make the effort to analyze a beer and give your assessment and overall impression such that it is helpful to the rest of us, whether it is in making a purchasing decision or in refining our palates. Those who are just checking off 1-4oz ticks on Untappd without much to help us are really more or less useless to the rest of us, IMO. Whatever makes them happy, but it really doesn't make any difference to me, so I don't see the point in caring about what these tickers do.

tl;dr- there is a spectrum here and I think there is a form of ticking that is helpful to the beer community at large, and then there is a form of ticking that is unhelpful to everyone else except for the ticker himself, presumably for bragging rights/winning the Pokemon game.

 

I consider myself the selective ticker. I won't buy or try something that doesn't appeal to me. Hop bombs? Pass. More for other people? Sours? Pass. More for other people. However, if there's something in the beer that catches my eye, then yes, I'll definitely try to find it and drink it, and subsequently, tick it. Don't get me wrong, I love and have some old favorites. I go to those when I'm out and don't see anything new at a restaurant, brew pub, or a party. But I won't drink it or try it just because it's there. And I believe in the idea that you haven't "really" tried a beer until you've had at the very least, 2.5 oz, or so... but preferably 12. A sip doesn't really cut it.

I've really grown attached to NBS, so along with my "ticking," I've had plenty of contemplative moments, forcing me to think about and analyze what I'm drinking.

 

I don't personally consider going after the Top 250 being a "ticker". Or, it's pretty low level ticking behavior. If what you care about is your tick count, there are much easier ways to go about it than trying to land all of those beers.

(To explain what I'm saying, I went to GABF this year with a consummate ticker (over 20,000 ticks). While I ran around to try Top 250 beers that I haven't tried (sometimes requiring standing in line), he was grabbing pours from any place we walked by that he hadn't had before.)

I wouldn't consider those remotely the hardest beers on the Top 250. You might have to throw some decent trade ammo at them, but that's all. The DONGs or near-DONGs are the real problems: PtY, DRIPA, Keene Idea, Tweak, etc. And don't even get me started on f****ng Baudonia. (There's also stuff like Triple Sunshine, which I really, really hope there aren't any bottles of left.)

 

Thanks for the awesome response!

 

I'm wondering how different the responses would be if this thread was titled "Reviewers?" I get the idea that tickers are a bunch of insincere glory hunters. That bothers me. There's nothing wrong with it, and the fact that people say "they are useful to the beer community" even lumps tickers into some sort of clique or group. That's stupid. You either take notes on a beer or you don't. Why does there have to be a negative idea about ticking? Even if so someone takes a sip of s beer and ticks it, who gives a damn? Why does that matter? I refuse to review a beer unless I have at least 11.9 ounces, but I don't judge anyone who has less for a tick.