Searcher? Ticker? Who are you?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by cavedave, Jun 12, 2017.

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  1. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,157) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    In Memoriam Pooh-Bah Trader

    It is always fun and funny to notice we BA's fall into two groups, those who desire to try every beer on the planet, those who desire to try the best beers on the planet. Let's call these groups tickers and searchers.

    These aren't mutually exclusive, in fact ticking beers might just be a way of getting to try enough beers that you're sure about the one(s) you think is/are best. At its purest form a ticker will try a beer once, tick it on the list, move on and never desire to taste it again. At its purest form a searcher eventually will find find ones he loves and stop looking for better.

    Most of us are a combination of these traits. My questions are
    -what combination of searcher and ticker do you think you are?
    -how has it changed over the years?

    I am about 10% ticker, 90% searcher. I have become much more searcher over the years, but I don't think I ever was more than 30% ticker. All comments welcome.
     
  2. Shanex

    Shanex Grand Pooh-Bah (4,960) Dec 10, 2015 France
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I am equally a ticker and a searcher because while some beers have been very special, Prairie artisan Ale to name it, at over 12€ I could only afford it once.

    I am still looking for new beers, world-class or great, or 'whalez'. If you want a percentage, fifty fifty. Price does matter a lot. Availability too but these go together.
     
  3. Harrison8

    Harrison8 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,285) Dec 6, 2015 Missouri
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I would say I'm 80% ticker, 20% searcher. I will trade for specific items, but usually I trade local for local. I'll pick up limited series stuff when I can find it, or when a shop holds one for me, but I don't chase trucks around the city to get it. In fact, just this weekend I was holding a very rare Missouri stout, and put it back. I hope I don't regret that, but for the first time, I sat a limited searcher-worthy beer back due to price and other options. I do have a bottle of that in my cellar, so the ticker in me was satisfied with that. At this point, there is soooooooo much good beer out there, I'd be wasting my beer drinking time if I spent it chasing something else.

    Perhaps in a few years, that searcher percentage will go up when I've tried more, but at this point, I don't see much value in dumping money and time into finding a particular beer. For me at least.
     
  4. TongoRad

    TongoRad Grand Pooh-Bah (3,884) Jun 3, 2004 New Jersey
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    The best beers are the ones that you want to have again and again. And do, as often as possible. Trying new beers is a means to an end in that respect, not the end in and of itself.

    As distribution and new brewers increase, though, my time does seem more slanted towards stumbleupons lately.
     
  5. Squire

    Squire Grand Pooh-Bah (4,385) Jul 16, 2015 Mississippi
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I'm the sort of person that's either in or out, drink deep or taste not the beerian spring. I'm also like the traveler who always wants to see what's over the next hill. I've found some beers that I like a lot yet I'm always on the lookout for others that I will also like or maybe even like more. Hope springs eternal that I will discover the one true holy grail of brews but I know if I did I would still keep looking.

    Don't know how to categorize that sort of behavior. Never kept a list or anything but was doing things this way for 50 years before I ever heard the term 'ticker'.
     
  6. utopiajane

    utopiajane Grand Pooh-Bah (3,982) Jun 11, 2013 New York
    Pooh-Bah

    I want to try all the best beer on the planet. Part of me is a ticker. I take notes on almost every beer. I try a lot of beer. Searcher mostly. I want to see not just one beer from a brewer, or one style. I am constantly looking to compare brewers across styles too.
     
  7. Fox82791

    Fox82791 Initiate (0) Jun 20, 2014 New York

    When I was first getting into craft beer I was definitely 100% a ticker. After finding out what styles I liked, I started searching for the best beers within that style, about 50/50 of each. Now, I'm 100% a searcher, I just want high quality beer and don't care nearly as much about the unique tick
     
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  8. dennis3951

    dennis3951 Initiate (0) Mar 6, 2008 New Jersey

    I'm a searcher but don't put a lot of effort into the search.
     
  9. ScaryEd

    ScaryEd Grand Pooh-Bah (3,793) Feb 19, 2012 New Hampshire
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I'm probably 50/50. I definitely like seeking out the "next big thing" in each style. At the same time, I enjoy having a core of beers that I can keep in my fridge, regardless of style, and never feel like I'm missing something.
     
  10. jhavs

    jhavs Grand Pooh-Bah (3,587) Apr 16, 2015 New York
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I think I am almost all searcher. Probably 90/10 Searcher to ticker.

    I do search for a lot of new brews, but I never buy anything just to tick. I like to trade for new brews that interest me, but I target specific brews, not just brews I have not had.

    All the random ticks I have are from open trades or were sent as trade extras. I rarely buy beer at a beer store anymore. More because there aren't any that close to me (within 30-40 minutes).

    If I lived in a more urban environment or really close to a brewery I would probably tick more.

    I do try and tick all the releases from Hill Farmstead and River Roost, but most of theirs I could end up searching for at some point anyways.
     
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  11. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,157) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    In Memoriam Pooh-Bah Trader

    Love it, referenced Pierian Spring with a well sprung pun, and the Holy Grail, all in one post.
     
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  12. LeRose

    LeRose Grand Pooh-Bah (4,423) Nov 24, 2011 Massachusetts
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I asked Bobby Dylan
    I asked The Beatles
    I asked Timothy Leary
    But he couldn't help me either...

    I am mostly a searcher - maybe an 80/20 split I'd guess. I tend to try a lot of beers, then purchase a bunch of what I enjoy the most. You never know what beer will just light up the old taste buds, but I don't think of myself as a ticker. I take notes on everything I taste and generally post reviews, which I think keeps me from being a true ticker who's playing Pokemon. Not trying a beer just to add to the count, in other words, but looking for the new "gems". If you don't try new stuff how do you know? We had a family dinner last night at a restaurant featuring Peruvian and Bolivian cuisine - a place we have driven by and said "what a dump', but the food, decor, and staff were outstanding.

    The downside is this leads to stockpiling. i rarely drink more than one beer a day (trips to Wisconsin seem to be the exception) and I go through long dry spells, but I can't resist picking up beers I have heard a lot about. And there's the tendency to do the "SQUIRREL" thing when beer shopping, aided and abetted by the missus. I do try to keep the hoppy stuff from becoming dust bunny covered relics, but I reckon there must be a few in the inventory. The good news is my palate never gets worn out on anything in particular.

    When I first joined up here, I was a little more in the gotta try 'em all mode until I realized the impossibility of that approach. A lot of those early beers I didn't even score - it took me a while to build up to reviewing and by then I had already changed my habits. My personality is more methodical (if that's the way to put it) and my current approach of open-minded trying of the new balanced by maintaining the favorites suits that better. I actually enjoy the note-taking and taking the time to figure out what's what with a beer, then posting at least a thoughtful review.

    I've also slowed down some most recently because I have found many beers to be quite similar to virtually identical. Also finding that many are just a variant on a theme (flavor of the day sort of thing) and that often times the original is the better. Added to that I have experienced a certain level of disappointment in the crap shoot that seems to be the new brewery game. Yes - I have found some diamonds, but there seems to be a lot more coal.

    Kind of a long-winded way of saying what @TongoRad said above...
     
  13. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I shall place myself within the category of beer appreciator. I have no idea whether this is a specific mix of searcher and ticker.:confused:

    Cheers!
     
  14. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    I occasionally look locally to see if I can find a particular beer but most often when I'm not looking I stumble on something (much as described by @TongoRad ). Now that we actually have them in PA, I often visit shops with lots of beers just to see to see what they have that might qualify to be a candidate for my regular rotation, but normally I'm in such places for some other reason (e.g., freshly chopped salsa with no vinegar and a short shelf life) and make a point of also checking out what's new that might seem worth trying. I often repeat the beers I've enjoyed before, sometimes even buying them a case at a time, sometimes to enjoy while fresh, sometimes track how they change with age.

    But I also try to keep a running record of what I bought and what I've enjoyed to guide further purchases since what I hate most is to see a beer I think I might enjoy and then, after buying it, to realize I already tried it before and there was a reason it didn't make my list of "try again." (But then I'm a cheap sort of guy without a huge budget to waste on repeating the duds, so record keeping and reviewing may be a bit more work, but it saves me money. :slight_smile:)

    So in this context, I'd describe myself as a "Jack of all trades, Master of none."
     
    #14 drtth, Jun 12, 2017
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2017
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  15. Leebo

    Leebo Initiate (0) Feb 7, 2013 Massachusetts

    How about none of the above? Drink fresh, drink local. I don't even keep track anymore.
     
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  16. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,157) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    In Memoriam Pooh-Bah Trader

    You don't look for beers you haven't tried. You don't look for beers that are better than those you have already tried. Totally can see this as none of the above.
     
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  17. Chipotle

    Chipotle Initiate (0) Apr 23, 2017 New York

    If I follow the premise correctly I guess I'm a searcher. I try to find beers I like at a reasonable price point.
     
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  18. Jacobier10

    Jacobier10 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,102) Feb 23, 2004 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah

    If the only ticking I do is what's on the Beers of Fame list does that just make me a searcher? :slight_smile:
     
  19. Selby56

    Selby56 Devotee (327) Nov 12, 2014 Pennsylvania

    I think everyone has been a "ticker" to some degree. When we first got into this hobby we had to try different things to find out what we liked and didn't like.

    My first year in the hobby, I was a ticker for sure. I got a new mix-six every week, probably tried almost 300 beers in my first year (living in Michigan at the time spoiled me.) But you better believe if I found a beer that really stuck out to me, I'd buy a sixer of that one. Eventually I got to the point where I tried most of the year-round beers in my area and started just buying my favorites, with the occasional mix-six for new releases.

    But if I go to a local brewery that has a weekly small batch or I am out of town and see a new beer I've never heard of on the menu, I'm going to try those out. So I guess I'm a ticker more so at breweries/bars than I am when purchasing bottles.
     
  20. FBarber

    FBarber Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,325) Mar 5, 2016 Illinois
    Mod Team BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Good question - a real opportunity for self reflection.

    I think that in a vacuum, I care far more about trying the best beers rather than every beer. That being said, to fully appreciate the best beers, its helpful to have tried a wide base of beers upon which to provide a foundation for appreciating the best representations of any given style. I also really enjoy trying new beers, especially if they are in a style I tend to enjoy. For instance, this past May, I drank through as many maibocks as I could get my hands on (completely inspired by the tasting thread and because it was a style I knew nothing about.) It wasn't inspired as much by a need to tick a bunch of maibocks, but rather to appreciate the style. In the future, I wouldn't care to revisit more than one or two examples of the style.

    The searcher in me though does not in any way care about actively seeking "whales" through long lines or trades. Sure, I'll trade for a beer if the opportunity is right (although I mostly do local for local trades), I'll wait in the occasional line for a beer, but the vast majority of the quote unquote whales I've had I've either had shared with me by a friend or just happened to stumble across.

    The inner "ticker" in me comes out most with local beers that do not have many or any reviews on here (a rating tells me or anyone nothing). I enjoy trying them, supporting a local brewery, and then putting my thoughts out there in the hops that they may be of some small assistance to people who search out that beer here on Beer Advocate.

    In terms of my consumption, I'd say, right now, its 65% new beers and 35% beers I always go back to. That number used to be far more skewed towards new beers, but as I've tried more beers, its actually lessened my interest in always trying new beers and has resulted in me revisiting beers and/or styles that I find myself in the mood for. I suspect that it will continue to move closer to 50% - 50% in the future, but with the nature of the beer scene (especially in styles like IPAs and stouts) will always have a large number of new beers since so many breweries release one-offs and new beers.

    tl:dr? I'm a mix of both and @TongoRad hit the nail on the head

     
    #20 FBarber, Jun 12, 2017
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2017
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