Juan Solo

Juan Solo returns! 

Er, technically version 3.0 of Juan Solo. The first summer we were open I blended Liffey with real deal Tepache - that is, I filled a 5 gallon bucket full of pineapple rinds, cores, sugar, and cinnamon (with a few jalapenos) and let it ferment wild in the brewhouse. Which is a crazy thing to do in a non-wild/sour brewhouse. Once you invite in wild bacteria, they might not ever leave! But it was delicious and I named it T.S.Bocce (because it sounds like Tepache in my mind).

The following spring, I was complaining about how hard it is to name beers to Juan and he jokingly said I should name a beer after him and call it "Juan Solo". Surprisingly, I looked online and couldn't find a beer with that name already, so I told him ok. I don't think he believed I would do it, but soon after I had blended Nothing On (Maibock) with pineapple puree and asked him to toss in some jalapeno puree. It was a hit.

Sure, versions 1 and 2 were delicious, but Juan and his namesake beer are unique enough they deserve their own  beer - not a repurposed blend. So this time I went with a super traditional Mexican Lager - Vienna malt with a huge amount of corn. Low and slow lager fermentation. Then I added the non-traditional bits: NeoMexicanus hops (as Juan himself is a bit NeoMexicanus ;), pineapple and jalapeno purees (made by Juan), piloncillo, and cinnamon. And despite the name "Solo" this was a true collab between the kitchen and brewhouse. Salud!