The Sentinel
Ferment Brewing Company

Look: Light yellow and lightly opaque on the pour, which generates a sudsy white head that quickly settles to a lid, leaving minimal lacing behind

Aroma: I could smell it on the pour. Lemon zest, white pepper, Brettanomyces, hay, citrus flowers, leather, herbal tea, oak tannins, light bready notes, citrusy conifer, yeast, and champagne

Taste: Whoa. Citrusy and lightly minty Doug Fir jumps out of the glass, getting things going with a bang as hay, a bouquet of flowers, lemon zest, and pepper quickly join the fun. Leather, oak, and some slight bubblegum esters emerge in the middle and leave no doubt as to the Brett factor involved before lemon, white pepper, and herbal tea notes bring the taste to a close, along with more leather and oak

Mouthfeel: Full but light, spritzy, clean, medium-high carbonation, and moderately dry on the finish

Overall: Simply put, this beer is awesome. The descriptor on the bottle was enough to sell me on buying one but I didn’t quite realize that the description wouldn’t even do this beer justice until trying it as it is one phenomenal and extremely well-layered and put-together Saison. The Brett presence, oak tannins, and Douglas Fir tip addition really works well in an already complex and delicious base beer to take it to the next level IMO. Highly recommended and this just made my personal Best New Beers of 2024 list – it’s that good. Thanks to Ferment Brewing Co. for brewing this gem

 

Bottle from Uptown Market.

A mildly hazy straw yellow with a dense white head with excellent retention and lacing, this looks great. The nose has really nice Brett character, spicy clove, mild pineapple, straw and hay funk, a touch of wet barnyard. The base saison has mild cracker and bubblegum notes along with black pepper, fresh and zingy. A touch of oak and wine are present, lending a soft fruity and vanilla note. Doug fir needles lend a pine note to the nose. The palate opens crisp and drying, fruity and yeast heavy with honey, floral fruit, zesty spice with clove, pepper, some yeast phenols. A crisp, snappy cracker malt flavor is present in the mid-palate. Fruity wine notes linger on in the finish. I can't really detect much pine on the palate. Drying, snappy on the finish, this is a touch watery. Impressive, focused saison.

a clever brett saison, super mature, especially out of a newer brewery like this, and relatively simple, so the brett profile really drives this, a gorgeous beer really, as expertly done as all the others were in here, downright delicious across the board! golden, not quite clear, average white head from the tap, and unassuming looking. it smells funky but also fresh in a weird way, maybe the fruity hops in here doing that, but the brett has a wet hay, mowed lawn, and musty basement character, incredibly funky, perhaps a single brett claus strain, no tartness at all, hints of minerals and iodine and dough. its real interesting, and when it warms up things like peaches and meyer lemons come out, although this is unfruited for sure. a sprite soda complexion is there, which is uplifting to the lighter wheat malt profile, earthy but dry to finish, subtle white wine tannins there at the end too. a simple and delicious beer overall, seems like a delicate sort of pale ale base, but the brett really leads the way, wonderfully dry and lively feeling, and while somewhat simple, this has a lot going on. i dug all of the beers we had in here, and its cool they are doing so many different things so well! i found this oddly refreshing for a brett beer...