Review: Gatorade Limon-Pepino (Lime-Cucumber)

Guest reviewer Jason Steele returns with a look at a sports beverage by a familiar brand targeted at the Hispanic market.

If you are like me when you read the flavor of this G(atorade) you probably thought…huh?! Cucumberwhatnow? Yes, cucumber lime.

I had never heard of Gatorade Limon-Pepino until my sister sent me a 32 oz bottle in the mail all the way from Phoenix (full disclosure, my sister works for Gatorade.) She knew I am a fan of interesting beverages and knew I occasionally contributed to BevReview.com and thought I, and my fellow beverage hounds, would appreciate this unique flavor. She gave me one note with the bottle "drink extremely cold and on a hot day." So I promptly placed it in the fridge and waited for a warm day. The latter never arrived so instead I did 45 minutes of cardio at the gym and then rushed home to chug some G. Same dif.

The actual flavor name is Limon Pepino (Lime Cucumber) and is noted on the bottle as a "sabor nuestro" (new flavor). You'll notice the label also has a tag line in Spanish that basically translates to "Rehydrates, replenishes and reactivates your performance (game) when you need it most." It is part of the "G Series 02 [PERFORM]" whatever that means. I don't even think Gatorade employees can decode their naming/numbering system. 01Prime? 03Recover? Who cares.

The ingredients are fairly standard:

Gatorade Limon-Pepino (Lime-Cucumber)
Water, sucrose, dextrose, citric acid, natural and artificial flavor, salt, sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, gum arabic, glycerol ester of rosin, Yellow 5, and Blue 1

A 32 oz bottle contains 200 calories, 420 mg sodium, 56 g carbs, and 56 g sugars.

When I first opened the bottle I was greeted with a pleasant cucumber-y scent; like if you walked through your garden and accidentally tramped on a half dozen cukes. The lime is very faint. If I close my eyes, stick my nose completely into the bottle and inhale deeply there is a slight lime scent at the top. The flavor on the first few sips is mostly cucumbers as well but finishes with a nice light lime taste. I think this is because the cucumber is not a flavor I normally expect so it is overpowering initially. However, the more I drink it the cucumber flavor becomes more subtle and the lime makes itself more present.

The flavor is pretty nice. It's refreshing and tasty and would be great on a hot day at the beach with some chips y salsa y tacos y burritos. I have a feeling some people will love it while others might think it's gross. I for one, like cucumber slices in water, which, at all the swanky brunch places is trés is à la mode (the actual definition, not "with ice cream") so I liked this Limon Pepino Gatorade.

Being that this product is essentially marketed towards the Hispanic population you might be hard pressed to find it depending on your city. It was front and center at my local 7-11, but then again Chicago has a large Mexican population. It's worth seeking out if you are even mildly curious.

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