Why is it bad to be a ticker?

I tend to define a ticker very narrowly as someone who tries a few sips at most, makes the tick and then turns away from it without ever getting it again, despite maybe loving it. With me, it stops when it's more about the tick than the actual experience of the beer.

 

I don't look poorly on anyone.

There are just as many well thought out reviews on this site as there are reviews that meet the minimum length and say nothing. The validity of people rating only with "hads" will statistically have a similar validity as people who write reviews.

I rate beers with "hads" only. I put thought into those ratings and where they actually fall for me in the taste spectrum of that style. I don't need to know that the beer looked like 3.75 or to be the hundredth person to use the same cliche descriptions of the smell and how it changes slightly mid-palate. If people like writing reviews, good on them. I appreciate the effort. I don't appreciate that how I choose to rate is looked down upon. Writing out reviews just makes people feel superior.

 

I like trying new beers when possible, but I'm not obsessive about doing so. I'll typically give them a "Had" rating on here if I remember to do so. I like at least keeping track of beers I've had, and having a basic idea of whether or not I enjoyed them.

I still regularly get beers I've already had. It would be silly not to. That said, if I walk into the bar and see a beer I've never had, I'll usually try that first.

 

Nothing wrong with ticking as you discover craft beer or trying new beer once in a while. But at some point, you gotta know what you like, know the breweries/beers/styles that are likely to deliver the experience you desire vs. leaving your experience up to random chance - which results in drinking a lot of beer that just doesn't really do it for you. To me knowing what you want and who can deliver that is the difference between being a connoisseur and a casual fan/trend follower. Those that never progress beyond this phase and always drink new to them beer leaves me scratching my head as to why a (most likely) mediocre new experience is always preferred over a known good/great experience.

 

The one-off/rare/limited/hype model kind of feeds into this frenzy since you can't have it again anyway even if you did like it, thus giving justification to tickers to just keep on ticking.

 

And the people that drink the same thing every day for years make me scratch my head. I mean think of it outside of beer. Don't people like trying different restaurants/dishes? I mean I know I have a favorite cheeseburger at this one place, does that mean that is the only burger I should ever eat?

 

Or maybe you are scared to choose something that you think might satisfy your desires and choose incorrectly, so you would rather pick new stuff randomly so if you fail to choose correctly, you can't blame yourself.

Its a quite common phenomenon to be paralyzed from fear of too many choices and not wanting to make the wrong choice. Always leaving the choice up to "what's new" just seems like a coping mechanism to protect one's ego to me.

Which leads to my favorite Rush lyric:
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

 

Extremes on both ends are perplexing. Like a great beer, life is better with depth and balance.

 

Tickers gotta tick.

 

I find it hilarious that anyone cares what some dudes/ladies on a beer forum think of them. "You're a ticker and thats bad!!!" to which the response should always be "Your opinion counts for less than nothing in my life, so shut your mouth."

 

This has gotten interesting with the underlying themes. Seems there's a range of "ticker-dom". Mentally I equate ticking with a status symbol - either someone racing to taste every beer on the planet, or every rare beer, or whatever - sort of bragging rights to who's tasted the most. A person who might say "oh...yeah...I've had that and it is SO 20 minutes ago" sort of thing while sucking down 2 ounces of their 300th IPA that let's face it more or less taste the same. But...if I could only score one bottle of something I might never see again, and checked it off my list, is that a bad thing? I don't think so.

I also don't equate "hads" with ticking, necessarily. Depends on the individual, of course, but I think you can score just as conscientiously with the "had" system as you can with a full review. Maybe we're seeing that - lots of hads popping up now, but also threads like "I just drank my first XYZ what do you think" coming into play. I suppose that seems tedious, but maybe that kind of open discussion has as much or more value than a review people might never read? Just thinking aloud here... I have never used the "hads" but am beginning to think about it. As others have said, it seems pointless to review and reiterate what a hundred others wrote, so unless there's some personal distinction that makes my review add value, why write it? I can't believe I said that, but it makes sense.

I tend to mix things up myself. It is rare for me to go into feeding frenzy mode and just buy a whole bunch of new to me stuff. There's certain beers I buy repeatedly, but it's definitely a mixture of tried/true and new. I do it to explore new beers/breweries/styles and expand the experience. But I think it is good to have a stable of brews that I can count on every time I crack one open. Just like the cheeseburger - no doubt it is good to try other burgers, but also comforting to know you can always go to old faithful when you just need a great burger fix. The next new product tried could be the best, could be the worst - you never know and to me that exploration is part of the fun.

 

1) What was the outside temp

and

2) Were the windows rolled down

were the top 2 questions that popped into my mind.

 

So are tickers also hoarders? Tick-hoarders? Both groups do have at least one thing in common -- they're both bad for craft beer.

 

No offense, I appreciate all the reviews, it helps me decide when standing on front of a cooler. But dang, "Task"? When my hobbies of beer drinking, fishing, and hunting comes with homework, I'm out.

 

True, reviews are just voluntary. Quality was really my point. Getting to the essence of what you like about a beer. Willy nilly tasting everything without any sense of what is quality or aspects of a beer you like is a waste of time.