Stone Brewing Xocoveza Winter Spice

**Aroma:** “Moderate spiciness where the spicy peppers slightly overpower the chocolate. Reminiscent of Halloween spices with light cinnamon and an earthy character. Chocolate, chile, and roast. Cinnamon, mild pepper aroma, and chocolate combine to smell a bit like an incense-filled Nepali import shop. I can reframe it as mole, but it’s more like incense.” **Flavor:** “Flavor is very much mole: the chile flavor is there, with a hint of chipotle spicy smoke, along with an earthy cocoa, but the spices are very much in play, with strong cinnamon and mild cumin. A touch of alcohol warming, just enough to know it is there. Subtle heat.” **Overall:** “Very drinkable and balanced with a good chile flavor, light chile spice, chocolate, and a cinnamon note. Nicely balanced and surprisingly quaffable. This hits all the expected notes (chile, chocolate, and malt) without overdoing any of them.”

**Aroma:** “Medium spices with a slight acrid note. Moderate cinnamon evokes a bit of pumpkin spices and a touch of chocolate. Cherries, dried and fresh. Not a lot of stout (roast, coffee, chocolate) in the aroma. Some smoky notes and spicy pepper.” **Flavor:** “Chile flavor starts out high with moderate cherry notes and starts to burn slightly as it sits in my mouth toward the aftertaste. The hotness continues to grow well after the taste—a bit like hot cherry juice. A bit of caramel sweetness is there to balance, but the body is still svelte. The spices from the nose are here, too, but the chile heat presses them down into mere accents to the warmth.” **Overall:** “The chile heat is nice, but it ultimately overpowers the other flavors—more chocolate and a touch of roast would be nice. But if you love heat more than balance in a chile beer, you should try this.”

__Aroma:__ “Super chocolate presence—sweet, bitter, and dark—on the nose, with some evident roast malt, but it’s very faint. The malt is roasty, but has a slight buttery pie crust character and sits in the back. This beer smells like a chocolate bar.” __Flavor:__ “The initial flavor comes across as a very fine dark chocolate, with some level of nuttiness from pecans. Some creamy sweetness cuts through the dark chocolate and roast, lending some complexity. It’s very rich with the cocoa and deep-roasted coffee notes, and the creaminess lifts the flavor. There are also some notes of plums and cherries. The toasted malts carry through the finish, providing medium-full body and lasting sweetness.” __Overall:__ “The chocolate really dominates, and it’s somewhat difficult to pick out other nuanced flavor profiles. It makes for incredibly smooth drinking—it’s rich, sweet, and decadent. The body does a good job of holding up the chocolate, and it’s one of the better examples I’ve had in a stout.”