Golden City Javapeño Stout

Draught. Head is mostly lasting. Body is dark brown to black. Aroma is moderately malty (chocolate/cocoa, roasted grain), lightly to moderately hoppy (resin), lightly yeasty (dough), with a note of chalk, light note of chile pepper. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly to moderately alcoholic, moderate lingering throat burn (as if from alcohol, but longer-lasting, as if from chiles). Not much apparent chile in the nose (thankfully), but a reasonable amount of throat burn. Can’t say I enjoyed it, but it’s not bad.

Draught at Mountain Sun, Pearl Street. Beer is very dark brown. Head is small, off-white, frothy, mostly and quickly diminishing. Moderately lacy.<P>The aroma is malty with moderate notes of roasted grain, chocolate, sourish coffee, lighter sweet notes of caramel; Hoppy with a lighter note of herbal resin/pine; Yeasty with a trace of basement; Light/moderate miscellaneous notes of smoky chipotle chile powder<P>The flavor is moderately sweet, lightly/moderately bitter, lightly/moderately acidic with a lightly bitter, moderately sweet, slightly spicy-hot finish. That’s fun. :) <P>The body is medium, the texture is velvety and the carbonation is average.<P>Love love love the idea. Chile and chocolate works wonderfully together, but the integration of the two has to be tight in order to hit the high notes; not getting that rich amalgamated feeling in this beer. The Stout and the chile feel like modular elemental neighbors, not conjoined twins. Stout itself is fair but mostly uninspiring.