We visited Lift Bridge Brewing in Stillwater in mid-July to capture part of their beer-brewing process. Brewer Matt Hall was our guide through the making of a batch of Farm Girl Saison. Photographer Becca Dilley, newly enamored of the video-like potential of animated GIFs, illustrated some of the more beautiful aspects of brewing in the process. [BANDWIDTH WARNING: This page contains large images and will overload old browsers and slow connections.]

Malted grain (above) for the beer batch in process. The stuff can be chewed as is, and it has a nutty, earthy, almost Grape-Nuts-like flavor to it.

We spent about four hours at the brewery. During that time, Matt was constantly on the move. Like cheesemakers and farmers, brewers stay busy.

Matt pours malted grain from a sack.

Hops are added to the mash, where they will add a subtle hop characteristic to the final brew.

Matt stirs the mash to help distribute the grain and keep the temperature even.

After the beer has gone through the brewing process, it’s distributed in kegs throughout the Twin Cities area.