Tickers

I suppose another term would be 'anoraks'. Basically, they are people who attend beer outlets (esp. beer festivals) with the intention of tasting as many different beers as possible, often without regard for their quality. This is evidenced by their pouring beers into 'Panda' bottles (a small, commercial, soft drink), for consumption at home, or maybe at some mystical gathering of similar souls - who knows? That way, they can 'tick' the beers off their lists as 'tasted', hence 'tickers' But - hey! It's a big world, and we're all allowed to enjoy ourselves as we see fit, just so long as it doesn't frighten the horses. HTH KeithS

Thanks for the info Keith. I'll tick it off as a new meaning on an old word like I did when my brother kept asking me if I had any smash instead of asking for small change. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why he wanted some instant mashed potato!

I always thought of "anoraks" as geeks or nerds or as we say in Japan "Otaku"

Umm, good beer in a plastic bottle? Methinks not, unless you're drinking in a public place and don't want to be caught by the bill :-) Actually, drinking in public places (parks) is quite normal here, especially in spring when the cherry blossoms bloom, but that's a different thread.

Wayne

Furtive looking train, err I mean 'beer' spotters huddled over little notebooks using stubby pencils, who enjoy vinegar from panda bottles, so long as each sip has a different name. AKA scoopers or sad gits ;-)

John B

I've never understood that bit, can someone explain what it is about?

No? Basic rule for the weirdos that tick is that they can't officially tick it off as a drink they have had unless they have drunk at least half a pint. A panda pop bottle will hold a half pint. They can fill several bottles and then drink them at home rather than deal with a surfeit of alcohol while out.

The fact that they will often be drink old, stale beer from a plastic bottle that as a result bears no resemblance to the original product doesn't seem to matter to them.

Personally speaking I have a rule about drinking a beer I don't recall having before - do it. Of course if I drink enough I forget I have and then have to do it again. Oh dear, what a shame. :-)

Maturation, Brett, maturation ;-)

Nah, I suppose they couldn't possibly drink the quantity of different ales available at any one beer fest, so they have to take it home(?) and drink it over the next few days. I've seen one with some sort of wheelie cart to carry all his Panda bottles. Gawd knows what state the beer was in when he finally got around to finishing it all. Possibly the plastic bottle (and especially the cap liner which, in many fizzy drinks seems to absorb the aroma of the soft drink) adds to the pleasure of it all. Oh, a pint of lager and lime please barman:)

In message , Wayne wrote

It's to beer what train spotting is to the rail industry.

The ticker mentality has got so bad in the UK that you can NEVER find the same beer form small breweries again as the brewers change the name of their beer every week to maintain the ticker market share.

Honestly Steve, I never understood why they did did it. I thought they kept those little bottles as a memento or something. It still sounds pretty disgusting all the same.

Sigh... Well at least I understand the meaning, although I don't think I'll ever understand the reason/motivation :-)

Wayne

Got it, thanks.

Wayne

Personally I don't think there are actually that many of them around. At most I would guess that their numbers are in the hundreds which compared with the number of real ale drinkers in the UK is statistically meaningless. They do stand out in pubs or at beer festivals. Therefore I would be surprised if breweries are deliberately bringing out new brews (something I think is getting OTT) for such a small group. Maybe the ticker mentality is spreading? I've never thought of it as a contagious activity.

It is strange that the tickers seem to congregrate. For example, the discussions here seems to indicate that UFRA is mainly ticker free. However after a few days reading the cask-uk group on Yahoogroups, you will note the presence of a number of tickers. You do start to see a lot of the same names popping up though. One of them has written an eye-opener into their life here

I'm kinda getting worried. I also like trying new beers, although I wouldn't go halfway around the contry for one. Whilst we were in London we were taking notes of the beers we drunk and (apart from ESB and a handpumped stout) never had the same beer twice. The notes we took were for ABV, colour, aroma, body and taste but were for a practical purpose; so we could recreate a "British" bitter when my friend returns from Chicago/Hawaii with locally sourced ingredients. I hope this doesn't mean we carry the ticker "disease" :-)

Actually, we will be venturing out of Tokyo soon to visit a craft (micro) brewery in Numazu (not too far) The (American) brewer there produces some very good stuff and at the moment has a "summer tangerine" beer we're interested in trying. It's called "Natsumikan Ale"

If anyone is interested in what goes on outside Blighty.

There's one Japanese brewer here who constantly wins awards and constantly makes sour beer who learned at Green King. After trying their IPA I'm not surprised that his beer sux so bad. At a recent event I asked him if he thought his beer was in bad condition and he replied it was OK. He later told my friend that the beer was in bad condition.

Now, this is getting way OT! Back to my crappy Kirin......

Wayne

It certainly is. Particularly when they are rating your ale on a beer website. After a beer tasting a friend and I gave at a local gent's home, we left the host with a growler of one of our beers (drawn off a pony keg), warning that it would only be on form for 24 hours, max. So what does this fine gent do? Four days later he takes it down to Montréal, where some ticker chums of his are dying to add it to their lists, and rate it on RateBeer.com. The ale, Corporal Punishment, had just snuck into second place on the website's rating for American brown ales. (The ale is a little outside the style, really... too hoppy and at the far end of bitterness for an American brown, but it really doesn't fit any other style, either.) Anyway, to make a long story short, three of the tickers rate the decidedly sub-par beer and our rating plummets.

I'm not one of those that sits in a huddle around a table a festivals and would not dream of filling plastic bottles. I would only drink beers that had come straight from the cask. But I regard myself as a ticker insomuch that I like trying new beers and I record the ones I've tasted which I put on a database so at future festivals, I know what I've already tried. I don't go out of my may to try new beers but if I find something new on my travels then its a bonus.

Dave

Brett... a écrit :

Reminds me of a stint I did at the dor at York Beer Fest a few years ago. I'd noticed tickers at it with panda bottles, and I turned into a nuisance, reminding them we only had an on-premises licence. The results were hilarious : utter denial of filling bottles, and continuing panda bottle ritual. but under the tables. :o)

#include

Ah, good times eh? I always insisted that customers who actually drank the beer got served first, and bring your own f*cking funnels - we're not wasting beer.

Rich (who's been busy, sorry Laurent)

In message , The Submarine Captain writes

Technically those are "bottlers". Normal tickers and scratchers don't do that. You'd think they'd use mineral water bottles, too. There don't seem to be very many of them, we get the same handful at every Reading Beerex.

As bottlers are simply a sub group of tickers, Laurent is technically correct. Taxonomy for tickers anyone?

From scoopgen: Scoopers, tickers, beer bashers, ale neds, scratchers . what do they all mean? Well, simplistically, they all mean the same thing; someone who records the beers he drinks and has a running total. In the real world the names actually have slightly different meanings, depending on where you live and who you listen to; Scoopers - I take to mean people who care a bit more about the beers than just ticking them off. They may make tasting notes, rate the beers or similar. It's all a bit arbitrary, but this is my view on the subject and, as it's my website, that's what I'm putting here, right? Tickers - Tends to be a Northern name, but I take to mean those who simply drink a beer, mark it off, forget it, and then drink another. Basically, those who care more about numbers than taste - but not necessarily! Beer Bashers - This phrase came from the railway fraternity, as did about

I was going to use the following in a future newsletter to 'wind-up' the 'Ticker's' and especially all the 'Bottler's' we know ... it says it all really ! ;o)

OK, You have a choice, which one do you take ?

Choice 1 "Pulled fresh, it has a crystal clear golden appearance, a bitter with floral citric hop aroma. It has a hoppy predominate taste which is slightly sweet and fruity and leaves you wanting more, much more. You drink this Beer just as the Brewer intended it to be ... FRESH !"

Choice 2 "Stored in plastic bottles, sometimes for literally weeks on end, warm and way out of condition, with an overpowering taste of an old crypt, lined with damp cardboard, soaked in vinegar and TCP, it would rip the toenails off the even the most ardent Belgian Gueuze drinker. When poured, the TCP / Vinegar overtones strip out your nasal passages, and leaves your tongue wishing it had been cut out with a blunt rusty razor blade. Drunk purely for the selfish purpose of gaining a 'Tick' ... just to say "I've had it" ... and bugger the condition, and the Brewer's original thoughts on freshness"

Boy ... am I glad I don't 'Bottle' !

Dave Sec-RAT-ary Real Ale Tasting Society - R.A.T.S. ®