Lift Bridge Beer Co. Minnesota Tan

The Lift Bridge Beer Co. is supposedly from Stillwater, Minnesota, but the bottle says brewed and bottled in Cold Springs, Minnesota.  It must be contract brewed for them by the Cold Springs Brewing company.

The bottle describes this as a "Belgian-style Tripel fermented with lingonberry.  A complex and tart beer that's wonderfully pink; reminiscent of a Minnesota Tan."  Thus its name.  The lingonberry is also know as the cowberry, a low creeping shrub of the heath family, with white or pink flowers and dark-red acid berries.

The 8.5% ABV beer pours an orange-golden in color.  The pink is a subtle tinge if actually present at all.  There is a small white head.  The aroma is tart, fruity and yeasty.  The taste follows the aroma.  It is tangy and tart without being puckering.  The finish is dry.  It is interesting, but there is something bothersome to me about it that I can't put my finger on.  Perhaps it is a bit too much like raspberry for my taste?  However, if you like tart, fruity, beers, it is worth a try.  It does mellow out a bit as it drinks, by half way through my impression of it was improved.

http://www.liftbridgebrewery.com/