3285
Kane Brewing Company

Pours pretty dark, fairly viscous, minimal head. Complex aroma of mostly dark fruits: I get prunes, dates, dried figs, cherries???. Big bourbon aroma, light chocolate. Flavor is caramel, dried dark fruit, has an interesting cherry flavor. Surprisingly creamy. Overall a good BA ale.

3/4/22
500 ml bottle, 2021 vintage
4 rating

Huge thank you to TheGent (RIP) for so generously gifting me the neat bottle. This one's for you, buddy.

500ml white-waxed bottle - poured into a stemmed snifter at 50°F.


Pours a deep, dark chestnut brown colour, topped with a short, active, bubbly tan head that quickly reduced to a sticky collar comprised of large bubbles. Sitting nearly black in the glass.

Nose: There's a lot going on here. Immediately, it's clearly not stouty, opening with aromas of burned toffee, toasted sugar, caramel, cola, and tangy dark fruit, leaning into dried cherry. There's some dark toasty bread, caramel malt, vanilla bean, and some dry woody barrel. Fruitiness opens more woth some Belgian-like raisin, prune, and dried red apple, along with a sweet port-like aroma. Complex.

Palate: 3285 greets the palate with a whirlwind of flavour - concentrated threads of Belgian candi sugar, burned cane sugar, sweetened molasses, soft caramel, milk chocolate, Reisen candies, candied walnut, sweet dark bread, fruitcake, raisin, dried figs, dates, almond, and all these rich decadent notes. Dense and saturated, it takes some effort, but soon, this lightly tart dried cherry note pokes through that sweetness, followed by a sweet red wine element, almost like a sherry. This helps to cut the sweetness, as some malty bread crust and nutty notes fill the place. The barrel ramps up, lending some oaky vanillins and tannic wood, before the beer finishes malty, nutty, and bready, with a lingering Irish soda bread note. Very Belgian.

Mouthfeel/Body: 3285 is full, heavy, and slick. In terms if viscosity or chew, it's fairpy medium-bodied, but it's quite heavy, weighted, and strong, with a commanding presence. Fairly sweet, lending some stickiness, and naturally, a pretty restrained effervescence. The finish does dry out quite nicely.

Overall: I hadn't anticipated how Belgian this was going to be. This is not your typical barleywine-stout blended strong ale. No no no, this is like a sweet double-mashed Westvleteren 12 (Westy 24!) aged in some big juicy barrels. This is a very uncommon style today, and I commend Kane for highlighting this complex, nuanced, beautiful Belgian-style ale with their Anniversary release.

**
12/05/20
Bottle to snifter.

Look:dark brown color, medium beige head. Ok retention.
Aroma: mulled wine, malt, spice, raisin, prune, light carmel.
Taste: apple, raisin, brandy , oak. Hint of cherry.
Feel: sticky. Medium to full body.

Very nice as always with these anniversary Belgian blends.
**
04/26/24

Enjoying a nice 4-year aged blended Belgian while watching round 2 of the NFL draft.

**
06/16/24
**

Mahogany brown to black with a moderate but densely level and flat tan head settling to a thin blanket that retains well, condensing thicker where it rings around the edge.

Aroma exhibits substantial barrel char that's a little peppery yet decadent of caramel and Riesen. There are also notes of fig and mincemeat that creep up in the background.

These notes from the background then take the driver's seat in flavor, providing a light tartness throughout the palate, as if from the barrel--it's a sort of dark red wine vein that actually ushers this down the hatch with exceeding ease. There's an orangey sort of butterscotch Werther's note within these brighter qualities, but there's also deeper characteristics of syrupy whiskey barrel and chocolate cherry cake.

The body is silky slick with a finely cutting carbonation that leads into a warming, numbingly tingly semi-sticky finish.

3285 isn't my favorite anniversary, but it's still a tasty treat relative to the few other brews of this style you'd feel lucky to find on shelves anywhere in the country.

---

Having another bottle almost a full year later, it's a little more subdued now, with less dark fruit tartness, and more barrel vanillins and caramels. It also seems slightly more viscous, with a firmer carbonation, but still a little thinner than these annys usually are, which is amplified by a light booziness. A fine beverage indeed, but I'll leave my score where it is.