Judge’s Review: 89 Rating – Chemesthesis by Jackie O’s Brewery

Specialty Spice Beer | Limited Release | USA

By David Sapsis

Judges Rating: 89.00
Aroma: 22.00
Appearance: 5.00
Flavor: 35.00
Mouthfeel: 9.00
Overall Impression: 18.00

Chemesthesis from Atlanta, Ohio’s Jackie O’s Brewery is being judged according to Style 30D in the 2021 BJCP guide: Specialty Spice Herb and Vegetable Beer, where here the “special” angle has to do with boozy-barrel aging. The beer lists itself as a “Blend of Imperial stouts aged in bourbon barrels and conditioned on ancho, cascabel, mulato and pasilla de Oaxaca chiles , cacao nibs, hickory nuts, cinnamon and vanilla beans (Whew!). The brewery instructed the beer to be viewed as a “Mole” Stout.    
The beer is served at 49°F in a tulip glass after a vigorous pour trying to generate foam. It sports a Jet coal-black color, and virtually no foam despite an assertive effort to make it. What was there was cocoa powder-brown before quickly receding. The beer has a viscous appearance and seems to be almost still.
The aroma is strong on milk chocolate to start, with complexing spicy notes dominated by cinnamon, a toast-smoky-nutty angle, and a blast of alcohol and vanilla sweetness. With rousing, the aromas double-up,  with some earthy- spice notes (chili, oak?) emerging from the back of the stage. Overall the nose is very sweet, very chocolate-y, and very cinammon-y with a back of faint nut and phenolic light toasty smokiness. This last feature may be due to the hickory nuts which are typically quite aromatic, but also might be partially due to chilis, even though I can’t discern any specific chili (and there are lot to choose from) in the aroma. 
The flavor follows the aroma to a ‘T’  but even more pronounced and sweet/lush. Sweet and rich cocoa-chocolate dominate the early flavor, with the same complex of cinnamon and light toasted-woody notes. The mid palate is thick with flavor and sweetness. Only until the late flavor do I get any chili notes, but they are there, with a hint of capsicum and toasted dried red chile, but no obvious oak other than the vanilla. The aftertaste and balance is fully sweet, designating this a desert stout in name and execution.
Body is very thick and the lack of any appreciable conditioning makes the beer somewhat non-beerlike and more like a straight digestif. Here I think some gas and liveliness would improve the mouthfeel.  I also think a beer this sweet and virtually still would benefit from more balancing spices (e.g., chilis) and less on sweet ones (cinnamon, vanilla) and still be a sweet finish to a meal.     
Overall this is a dessert/pastry stout through and through. The mole flavors of light/milk chocolate, cinnamon and light-smoky nuttiness dominate over the chili element. That leaves bitterness and roastiness as counterweights and here they are reserved. If you like strong and sweet beers in this vein, then take that grano de sal.  Also consider that beers like this really are not appreciated without a food context (unlike this tasting). This is a strong, rich and complex beer with assertive mole flavors that would provide a nice sweet finish to a big Latin-inspired meal. Picture sitting on a patio with the cool Fall breeze coming off the water, as midday heat fades into the setting sun. Salud.