Beer of the Week: Pepino Perez

From the Beer Writer: Though cucumbers are roughly 96% water, they possess an unmistakable, rather potent flavor profile. Vegetal in nature, most would simply describe them as “green”. In terms of beverages, they are popular as spa-water additives and cocktail garnishes, but they have a lot to offer as beer adjuncts. And I have proof in perhaps the most unlikely form. Like many San Diegans, I’m a fan of Speedway Stout, a coffee-infused imperial stout from Miramar’s AleSmith Brewing. I’ve sampled dozens of iterations of it over the years–Bananas Foster, mint chocolate chip, horchata, German chocolate cake–but the most compelling I ever tasted was…Cucumber Speedway. Something about the light, almost minty character of the cukes and their chlorophyll lightened that big, viscous, roasty stout while somehow melding with its chocolate and coffee essence. This week’s featured beer, Pepino Perez from Chula Vista Brewery, incorporates cucumber into a lighter style that seems a more obvious fit. Unlike the above case study, the brewer who crafted it, James Hodges, started with the vegetable and built something around it versus being relegated to experimenting with an existing beer. The cucumber was thrown down along with another adjunct (lime) by a local celebrity eager to see what Hodges could create. He went with a blonde ale given the hazy treatment to give it enough body to float those out-there add-ons’ flavors while not overshadowing them in the hops or malt department. Cucumber is definitely the star here; Pepino Perez is the suds equivalent of spa water. Despite its overt oddness, it’s been a hit since debuting Chula Vista’s pair of South Bay locations. Look for it in purple-and-green cans sporting a portly lucha libre combatant against the backdrop of the Coronado Bridge.

From the Brewer: “Pepino Perez is a collaboration with renowned San Diego DJ Beto Perez. Beto had a vision to make a hazy beer that incorporated cucumbers and lime. Kind of like the pepino flavored Gatorade he had just tried. I suggested that hazies are hoppy by nature (ooh, thats a good beer name), so we decided to try a ‘hazy blonde’, as to not drown out the fruit with hop character. He liked the idea of making the beer ‘less beery’ for the folks who aren’t as hop-heady as our ilk. We fermented the blonde ale using White Labs‘ Tropicale yeast strain, then added a copious amount of peeled and chopped English cucumbers and lime zest to the secondary, where it sat for two days before moving off the fruit. The result is an opaque summertime refresher that comes at 5% alcohol-by-volume and is suitable for all-day quaffing.”—James Hodges, Head Brewer, Chula Vista Brewery