Glenwood Beef Jerky - Peppered

Next in the series on Glenwood Beef Jerky is this Peppered variety. See my previous review of their Original variety.

Glenwood Beef Jerky is a brand of Glenwood Smoked Products, based out of Idaho Falls, ID. Glenwood Smoked Products has been in operation since 1961 starting out as a small meat packing facility. In 1978 they expanded into a new facility and began smoking meats and making jerky.

Today, the company makes two brands of jerky, this Glenwood line, and a Hangtown line, which I reviewed last April (click here to read the review). The Glenwood is meant to be more chewy, while the Hangtown is meant to be more soft.

Ingredients

Beef, brown sugar, water, hydrolyzed corn protein seasoning, soy sauce, liquid hickory smoke, spices, monosodium glutamate, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a smoky flavor, followed by a light sweetness, a touch of black pepper, and a touch of saltiness.

The chewing flavor reveals a light natural meat flavor with a stronger black pepper flavor, along with an increase sweetness.

For being billed as a "Peppered" beef jerky, this seems to hold up well. I'm getting well-noticeable black pepper flavor along with a copious sprinkling of cracked black pepper corns all over these pieces. It's not all that hot, it doesn't burn my mouth all that much, it just leaves a definite black pepper aftertaste in my mouth.

Otherwise, the flavor that seems to define this jerky the most is a combination of the the natural meat flavor, with the smokiness and light sweetness, along with the well-defined black pepper, and a light touch of saltiness.

Comparable to the company's Original flavor, the natural meat flavor in this Pepppered variety is still rather light overall. The addition of cracked black pepper doesn't really interfere, but just sits towards the back of the mouth and gives me that pungent, spicy, aftertaste.

Overall, it's still a mild tasting jerky like the Original variety, with just a more defined black pepper flavor, but not too overwhelming. It's very much an old fashioned style jerky, with a light but noticeable natural meat flavor, graced with some smoky and sweet flavorings.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in medium sized slabs.

This is a dry jerky with a mostly dry surface feel, except maybe a touch of oiliness. They are very flexible, bending like sheets of soft rubber. Biting off chunks seems fairly easy, though may take a little gnawing to do. Chewing is similar, rather chewy.

The chewing texture starts out with a fair amount of chewing resistance, requiring some effort to chew down. There's a little bit of a waxy surface feel that melts away after a few seconds. Once it starts to chew down and get soft, it takes on a meaty feel, but never really feeling like steak.

I can see small streaks of fat on most of pieces, they add some fatty flavor to the meat, and don't get in the way of chewing. I don't see any gristle or tendon, and there's a little bit of stringiness here and there. Overall, it's a very meaty jerky.

In terms of clean eating, it's mostly clean, leaving no residue on my fingers, and no bits of meat or seasoning falling on my lap.

Snack Value

Glenwood Smoke Products sells this Peppered variety from its website at a price of $11.99 for a 10oz package. If you bought a couple bags, the shipping would come out to around $4.50. That works out to a price of $1.42 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $1.42 per ounce price, this is a great value. I'm getting a good overall flavor, good meat consistency, and an average chewing texture. Compared to major brands of jerky sold at grocery stores, this is much less expensive, but seems to offer a similar or slightly better snackability.

As a black peppered beef jerky, at the same $1.42 per ounce price, it's a great value.  I'm getting a fair amount of black pepper flavor and plenty of cracked black pepper visible on these pieces, especially considering the lower price point per ounce.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Peppered variety from Glenwood Beef Jerky is much like the company's Original variety, but with a more defined black pepper flavor. Even with the increased black pepper, this jerky is still defined by its light natural meat flavor, smokiness, and sweet. The black pepper mostly adds a spicy, pungent flavor that sits in the back of the mouth.

Otherwise, fundamentally, it's still very much like Glenwood's Original variety. If you prefer that simple, clean, old fashioned style jerky experience, this is a great jerky to try. I do like the smoky flavor in this, and I do like the lower level of saltiness.

But despite its virtues, and despite the addition of cracked black pepper, I still don't see this as being uniquely different enough to elevate this above an average rating. A good meat consistency is perhaps its strength, though the chewing texture is a little more down to Earth.

I still like a lighter flavored pale ale with this, the Stone Levitation Ale or the Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://www.glenwoods.com/