Lift Bridge Farm Girl Saison

While looking over my list of sessions with beers from local breweries, I was reminded that I haven't yet done a Lift Bridge brew. To remedy this situation, I made a trip to the liquor store so I could purchase a 6-pack of their Farm Girl Saison.

Lift Bridge Beer Company is a pretty young Minnesota brewery. It was founded in 2007 and is located in Stillwater, which is where they make their pilot/test brews in small batches. They currently contract brew their bottled beer at Stephens Point Brewery in Wisconsin. At the time of this post, they bottle 3 beers: Farm Girl Saison, Crosscut Pale Ale, and Minnesota Tan.

In April of this year, Lift Bridge made an exciting announcement regarding their acquisition of a 10,500 square foot building in Stillwater. They plan to develop the 10 year old building into their own craft brewery and are likely to offer tours and sales of growlers and other merchandise when it opens. I don't know about you, but I'm always happy to hear about a new local brewing facility being created. I'm definitely going to get in line for a tour!

As a fan of the saison style, I chose Farm Girl for my first Lift Bridge beer session. This was the first beer they released in bottles. It weighs in at 6% ABV and 30 IBUs.

I pour the 12 ounce bottle into my tulip glass. A 2-finger white head appears and quickly dissipates into a few small thin patches and a ring of foam around the glass. The body is straw to light gold in color and has a slight haze. There are many sparkly bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass.

I smell honey and some lightly tart fruit like peaches or apricots. I also believe there is a hint of marmalade and some definite herbal spice.

The taste of sweet caramelized sugar urgently moves into a bit of lemon. The spicy characteristic presents itself more in the flavor as black pepper and leads into an earthy, somewhat metallic finish.

A medium-light mouthfeel goes well with the prickly carbonation. It has a fairly dry finish and a decent warming effect for a 6% beer.

This is a very tasty saison, though it seems to have much less of the strong flavors I associate with my favorite versions of this particular style. It does combine sweet, fruity, tart, spicy, and dry qualities like a good saison should; Lift Bridge has just turned down the volume on those flavors a smidge, which could be beneficial in helping to ease in newcomers to the style. Farm Girl is a highly drinkable brew that I have revisited many times. It is crisp and refreshing while maintaining a lovely warmth which leads me to believe this beer would be appropriate to drink in both warm and cold weather. Another excellent Minnesota creation worth trying!