Tuned American Brown Ale, Lift Bridge

I don't fully understand what this Tuned thing is..."pairing breweries with bands"...you drink the beer, you check out the band, sure, whatever. I drank the beer, maybe later I'll use that code to find that song, meanwhile, here are the notes...


Lift Bridge Tuned American Brown, "Tapping Local Music", pairing local musicians & breweries with limited release brews. Get your digital dowload code under the wax seal for a free song. Redeem it at: www.tunedbeer.com." Okay.

Featured band: Reckless Ones. These 3 are rock & roll, plain and simple. Just trying to make an honest statement in a phony world. Their sound is from the heart and doesn't apologize for anything. This Minneapolis band has paid it's dues and now it's paying it off.

Alc. 6.5% by Vol. Brewed and bottled by Lift Bridge Brewing Company, Stillwater, MN. "The Lift Bridge crew did a hopped-up ale for this limited, one time release."

The look: dark brown coloring, smallish tan head.

The smell: grassy hops meet dark malt. Caramel, coffee, and cocoa under a layer of fresh-mown grass.

The taste: the promise from aroma lands on the palate. Hops make a splash on the tongue, grassy, spicy, citric a bit, and the flavor stays long while the rich malt rushes up to take it's place. I'm reminded of a brown ale, but the predominance of hops in the flavor subsumes and sublimates that.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, he says. It's taken me a while to get my head around the black IPA/Cascadian dark/black ale style. I still despise some versions. Getting to think that the big trend continues to be "hop it up and they'll buy it." I've got nothing against a brown ale that's a brown ale, a stout that's a stout.
But, hey, wait a minute, things are changing now, there's more roast coming up, more of the molasses and the treacle rising up, more of a blend of the sweetness and the bitter. I'm enjoying this one. Well done, Lift Bridge.