Apparently, you can take the girl off the farm, but you can't take the farm off the cans from one of Minnesota's best-loved breweries.

Lift Bridge Brewing is sidelining its Farm Girl saison beer for a more accessible and un-genderized golden ale called Farm Day. Originally the Stillwater-based brewery's flagship beer when it opened in 2008, Farm Girl will no longer be produced by the pioneering craft brewer, except perhaps for special occasions.

"We were seeing the market change, and we're adapting and innovating with it," Lift Bridge co-owner Brad Glynn said.

Glynn said European-style beers like saisons — a wheaty, Belgian-style farmhouse ale — were more popular with American beer drinkers when Lift Bridge first opened in 2008. Now, though, lighter beers are more heavily favored, along with seltzers, THC drinks and nonalcoholic beers, all also now made by Lift Bridge.

The new Farm Day flavor is brewed with golden malts, wheat and oats, and billed as "slightly sweet and smooth" as well as citrusy, but low on hops (only 4.5 IBU rating). Lift Bridge's team hopes Farm Day will become its new flagship beer.

The brewery already tried altering the Farm Girl recipe once in 2021, changing the yeast and losing some of the spice and banana flavor to make it more accessible. However, sales remained below expectations, Glynn said.

"There's a lot of competition for shelf space and mind space, and we didn't want to confuse people with too many brands," he explained of the decision.

In other words, Lift Bridge wanted to keep the "farm" brand but did not want to have two beers with that name on the label. Its Stillwater taproom and brewing facility is set amid former and current farmland, and there's even more of a farming community around Lift Bridge's second location in New Richmond, Wis.

The brewery is taking its branding to heart and will donate a portion of all sales of Farm Day in the month of May to the Sustainable Farming Association, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit led by farmers dedicated to teaching responsible, regenerative techniques and supporting independent farms. Farm Day is already being stocked at liquor stores around the Twin Cities and will be widely available in restaurants and bars soon.

Lift Bridge is also hosting a free party to promote Farm Day on May 17 (11 a.m.-7 p.m.), featuring a plant and seed swap and other agriculture-related activities at the Stillwater taproom, 1900 Tower Drive W.

As for the beer that's being left behind, Glynn said of Farm Girl, "If there's enough demand for it, we'd be excited to offer it on a limited basis. We'll see, though."