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

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

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

75% of scoopers, although this number is lower nowadays. The section of rail enthusiasts who became scoopers was mainly the "bashers", who travelled around on their favourite engines to all parts of the UK, and therefore had a few beers whilst waiting for their next engine; this gradually evolved into scooping - or did they just copy it from those who had been scooping for years? We'll never know, but I certainly got into scooping via this route. The phrase is hardly heard anymore. Beer/Ale neds - This is really the same as beer bashers. A "Ned" is someone who is "desperate" for a "winner", and to differentiate from train neds, the name "beer ned" was invented. Again, not really used any more. Scratchers - Not sure where this came from, but it's fairly commonly used in the south. It seems to describe the actual marking off of beers, so I'm assuming it's got a similar meaning to "tickers".