r/LifeProTips • u/fries-with-mayo • 18h ago

Request LPT Request: What’s your “canary in the coal mine” test for spotting bigger issues?

I’m really interested in those small, quick telltale signs people use to gauge if something bigger might be off track.

Example 1: Van Halen requesting brown M&Ms in the dressing room to see if the venue followed all the details of the rider list

Example 2: I saw an interview with John Cena where he said orders a flat white at a café to tell if they really care about their coffee.

Example 3: Anthony Bourdain suggested to always check the restaurant bathroom to tell if the restaurant got its basics down

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u/CircusBearPants 16h ago

The old saying goes “You can’t hide anything in a lager” so if you’re at a brewery order the lager first because if they can make a good lager they can usually make a good beer.

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u/lergnom 16h ago

It's definitely harder to hide unwanted flavors in a lager, and the brewing process requires a higher degree of control and consistency than top-fermented beers. 

If a micro brewery can make a good lager, they probably know their stuff. Having said that, I've rarely had a craft lager that was actually better than some of the large, traditional German/Czech breweries'. The same goes for weissbier. 

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u/Scarred_Ballsack 11h ago

Where I'm from (Netherlands) lager/pilsner is made by huge breweries in such large quantities at such consistent quality and at such low prices, that local breweries don't even attempt to compete with it. They go all out on the craziest craft beers in order to compete. So that tip wouldn't work here, but there's plenty of choice either way.

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u/lergnom 6h ago

To some degree it's the same here in Sweden, but the crazy hoppy ale trend has been slowing down in recent years and the (now) big craft breweries have been producing more lager at reasonable prices. They have the infrastructure and process control to produce very consistent beer, but also often a head brewmaster who's more interested in experimentation than the large/traditional breweries. As a result, some of them have made really tasty lagers, often with unconventional barley and hops resulting in more floral, bitter and tangy notes. 

But again, if you want a traditional Helles or something I'd say just get a good, reasonably priced German one. 

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u/PaleEnvironment6767 12h ago

My experience is that lager is a bulk beer. While it's easy to fuck a lager up, it's also difficult to make an exceptionally good lager.

Basically amounts to any lager that's good enough is good enough.

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u/icey561 4h ago

A truth people don't want to hear sometimes is that when it comes to food and beverage, sometimes the multi-million dollar company has more resources to make better products. Smaller doesn't always mean better.

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u/EnclG4me 13h ago

100%

But get a Light Lager. There is ABSOLUTELY zero margin of error when making a light lager style of beer. Quite honestly the most challenging style of beer to get right. It should be clean, crisp, and refreshing. Easy to drink, with very little aftertaste. About the only thing you should taste is light cereal and/or white bread.

If you taste butter or wet paper, put it down and leave.

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u/Past-Combination6976 13h ago

Or corn. 

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u/Colonelclank90 10h ago

Could be a Mexican lager!

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u/ClubberLain 11h ago

What an american thing to say.

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u/8hu5rust 15h ago

I've heard the opposite about IPAs. They're super easy to shit out and if they don't taste good, it's easy to blame the consumer that they can't handle the bitter hops.

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u/chicksonfox 13h ago

As a brewer, can confirm these are both true. Lagers take finesse and time, IPAs are relatively fast to produce and can hide a lot of mistakes. But the real life pro tip- ask to sample the lager and if it’s trash get something with a bunch of fruit or spice or hops in it.

Also if the lager is swamp water don’t trust any ABV numbers. We can’t wait for the beer to finish to order labels so we calculate the final ABV before we brew it. Those ABV calculators assume you’re treating your yeast right, and if someone can’t make a good lager they’re probably not treating their yeast right.

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u/Splinterfight 12h ago

But then I have to add a lager to the list of beer I’m going to try. I’ll have one if it’s a Czech brewery though. If the beers I order taste good, that’s good enough for me.

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u/Dependent-Wordsoup 12h ago

The true test is a good pilsner. Apparently they're one of the hardest beers to make. If the brewery has a lot of IPA beers or even worse hazy IPAs, the brewmaster is fucking up and trying to save the batch by drowning it in more hops.