Experience: I’ve tried 50,000 beers

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the author's passion for real ale and his hobby of "beer ticking" or "beer scratching" - the practice of recording and marking off the different beers he has tried at beer festivals and pubs.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Author's Passion for Real Ale

1. How did the author develop a taste for real ale?

• The author got a taste for real ale while at university in Cardiff, where he sought out better quality drinks in local pubs and grew to love the depth of flavor of different styles of cask ales.
• He liked the fact that cask beers continue to ferment in the barrel before being served, which conditions the beer and improves the flavor.

2. How did the author's hobby of "beer ticking" or "beer scratching" develop?

• After university, the author started attending beer festivals and began recording the beers he drank by ticking them off in the festival programs.
• In the early years, he was going to 3-4 festivals per year, and someone he knew got him into the hobby of "beer ticking" or "beer scratching" - marking off beers he drinks from a list.

3. What is the author's approach to drinking and recording beers?

• The author drinks a lot less these days, being conscious of drinking too much and knowing when he's had enough.
• He averages fewer than 4 pints a day, and prefers maltier beers to very hoppy or sharp ones.
• He writes down the details of every cask beer he has, including the name, date, venue, price, brewery, and alcohol percentage, and now has about 250 full notebooks.
• He decided not to digitize the records as it would take too long.

[02] The Impact of the Craft Beer Boom

1. How has the craft beer boom impacted the author's beer ticking hobby?

• The author has noticed that the range and flavors introduced by the craft beer boom have improved the cask beer range, with new styles like hazy beers and black IPAs that were not brewed before.
• There are so many new beers around these days that the author doesn't tend to drink a beer twice.

[03] The Social Aspect of Beer Ticking

1. How has the social aspect of beer ticking impacted the author?

• The author met his wife at a beer festival, and she is involved in the hobby by volunteering at the Sheffield beer festival.
• The author has made great friends and met interesting characters through the hobby, many with nicknames like the "Alefinder General", "Mick the Tick", "Trolley Gary", and "Jingling Geordie".
• The social aspect is a big part of the hobby, as they often spend more time talking than drinking.
• The author sees it as a real community, and there is no endgame as long as he continues to enjoy the hobby and try new beers.

[04] Reaching Milestones in Beer Ticking

1. What milestones has the author reached in his beer ticking hobby?

• The author has reached the milestone of 50,000 different beers ticked, which was celebrated with a special beer brewed by local breweries.
• In the early days of ticking, the author was one of the first 11 people to reach 10,000 different beers.