Brown dwarfs are high-quality testing grounds for atmospheric models and optimizing requirements for exoplanet-focused instrumentation. Brown dwarfs have similar atmospheric physics and chemistry to gas giant exoplanets, but are much easier to observe because they do not suffer from host star obscuration. In the era of JWST, numerous molecular gases and condensates are spectroscopically accessible allowing us to understand the link between atmospheric structure and apparent chemistry. I will present ground and space-based observational programs to characterize convection driven disequilibrium chemistry in the atmospheres of the coldest brown dwarfs. Lastly, I will share the results of the JWST Early Release Science observations of VHS 1256b which cover 1 to 20 microns at medium resolution and show detections of water, methane, carbon monoxide, and silicate cloud features.
