What is a Ticker?
Welcome to the new updated Beer Diary. For a while now, I have felt like I am becoming more and more like a ticker, or a scooper. To be honest, I really have no aspiration to be one as there is no possible way that I can drink every commercial beer available (nor do I want to). A while back Prof. Pilsner asked me what a ticker was. My response is below;
"A ticker is a breed that are found in the UK (usually around CAMRA sanctioned events) or internationally on the web site Ratebeer. The general sterotype is bushy beard, plastic bag carrying sandwiches and attrired in a fleece (or rex hunt style fishing vest) and usually a notebook. These strange creatures will drink beers in half pints or thirds and make notes on each beer. Their mission is to rate and evaluate every beer possible, much the same as some bird watchers tick of species after sighting them. They can be observed at any CAMRA beer festival with their programs in hand, ticking off the beers as they drink their small measure."
I still think this holds true. Whilst I am the first to admit that I am a beer geek of the highest order, I do not consider myself a ticker.
For those interested in more info, be sure to read these official rules of ticking!
Welcome to the new Beer Diary!
"A ticker is a breed that are found in the UK (usually around CAMRA sanctioned events) or internationally on the web site Ratebeer. The general sterotype is bushy beard, plastic bag carrying sandwiches and attrired in a fleece (or rex hunt style fishing vest) and usually a notebook. These strange creatures will drink beers in half pints or thirds and make notes on each beer. Their mission is to rate and evaluate every beer possible, much the same as some bird watchers tick of species after sighting them. They can be observed at any CAMRA beer festival with their programs in hand, ticking off the beers as they drink their small measure."
I still think this holds true. Whilst I am the first to admit that I am a beer geek of the highest order, I do not consider myself a ticker.
For those interested in more info, be sure to read these official rules of ticking!
Welcome to the new Beer Diary!
posted by Tim at
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
9 Comments:
By any chance are you Bell's flatmate? Little ironic that you both reside in Clerkenwell.
I don't live in Clerkenwell. I just work here. I actually live in Brook Green, which is in West london. I do visit Bell in his pub sometimes though.
I don't think you have done the ticker's propensity for outdoor wear justice. For reasons I can never quite establish, a sizeable proportion seem to turn up to beer festivals (even in London) wearing enough brightly coloured mountain gear for a day out in the Cairngorms.
Damn, I used to live in Chiswick! Are you familiar with a pub called The Tabard? It's right around the corner from Turnham Green Tube Station. In my day, I drank there regularly. Good Kebab shop on Chiswick High Road too called West Kebab. Damnit Tymmy, we're neighbors!
I'm afraid you're confusing "tickers" and "raters".
Tickers are only interested the tick, not the flavour. Some tickers use Ratebeer but many stick to paper or spreadsheets or little hand-held thingies. Gaining more unique ticks is their obsession. On the whole they're not interest in flavour: even if a beer is rancid, if it passes their lips, it's a tick.
Raters, on the other hand, are interested in flavour. They do share the urge to make lists, but they really are interested in experiencing flavour - and they use Ratebeer for their mini-reviews.
BTW, I'm told tickers call themselves "scoopers".
This is everything you need to know about tickers/scoopers:
http://www.scoopergen.co.uk/Main_Page_again.htm
Great look to the blog, and good luck with the new format and content. I look forward to the continuing saga of 'The Ticker/Scooper/Rater - I almost feel disappointed that we don't really have them over here! Perhaps the next time Mother Engand sends out a load of convict transports she could throw in a few and I'll see if I can start up some sort of breeding program.
Cheers
Prof. Pilsner
Sausage, I knowo the Tabard but have never been in for a pint as its a slightly scary local now. The closest I get is when I crawl past on the no. 96 bus! West Kebab is nothing compared to the Kebab Machine on Shepherds Bush Rd.
Jeff, Thanks for the link. I think as an outsider looking in, tickers, scoopers and raters are all the same and exhibit similar behavior. Raters generally use ratebeer.com to show off how many ticks the have. I'm not really concerned with the quality of the beer they are consuming, just the behavior.
And I should state, that there is nothing wrong with being a ticker, just as there is nothing wrong with being a Morris dancer or a homosexual. It's just not my cup of tea.
A non beer person once asked me what a ticker was, I explained that they collected beers like serial killers collect childrens shoes!
With this said I do enjoy trying new beers but I don't keep lists.
Ticking is like birdwatching. Some people (usually judging types rather than perceiving) like to have lists of bird species and will travel around the world to find them and tick them off. Some people do this with rollercoasters. The most scary people in all of society do this with beer.
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