Clint & Sons Beef Jerky - Smoked BBQ

Next in the series on Clint & Sons Beef Jerky is this Smoked BBQ variety. See reviews of more flavors from Clint & Sons Beef Jerky.

Clint & Sons is a meat processing facility located in White Deer, TX. It's a family run business that goes back to 1944 when Clint Freeman opened it up. Today it's run by his sons and grandchildren. The company recently upgraded from state inspection to federal inspection, allowing them to sell jerky across all 50 states.

This Smoked BBQ variety is described as a slow smoked, tender barbecue jerky with just a hint of honey sweetness."

Ingredients

Beef, tomato ketchup, brown sugar, distilled vinegar, worcestershire sauce, liquid hickory smoke, salt and spices. (contains MSG).

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a lightly sweet, tangy, and smoky barbecue sauce flavor. There's a little saltiness that comes in later.

The chewing brings in a more defined barbecue sauce, having more sweet and tomato ketchup flavor. There's a light natural meat flavor towards the latter part of chewing as the other flavors wear off.

For being labeled "Smoked BBQ", this jerky seems to hold up well. I do get a barbecue sauce flavor, more of the sweet, mild variety with a stronger tomato sauce flavor and a moderate tanginess. It has a flavor similar to KC Masterpiece, but less spicy, more mild. As for the "Smoked" part of the name, there is indeed a noticeable smoky flavor that persists throughout.

Otherwise, the flavors that define this jerky is largely the barbecue sauce flavor, with the smokiness secondary, just as described above. There's a light saltiness in the background, and a light natural meat flavor towards the latter part of chewing.

Overall, it's largely a mild jerky in terms of spice, offering no heat, thick with a mild and sweet barbecue sauce flavor, and a medium level of saltiness.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into strips of four to ten inches in length, and sliced medium thickness.

This is a mixture of semi-moist and dry jerky, some with a semi-moist surface feel and others dry. They have a good deal of flexibility, and overall easy to chew.

The chewing texture starts out feeling tender and slightly moist, breaking apart very easily, and taking on a meaty feel right away. It chews down with easy chewing, and by the time it's rendered to a soft mass, it feels very much like pieces of steak.

I can see some small spot and streaks of fat on some strips, but otherwise no gristle or tendon. I don't get much stringiness, just a little, and nothing really unchewable.

As for clean eating, my fingers get a very light film of stickiness, but not quite enough to warrant a licking and wiping before touching the keyboard.

Snack Value

Clint & Sons sells this Smoked BBQ beef jerky from their website at a price of $22.50 for four packages of 3oz each. They charge $10.00 flat rate on any size order. If you bought three of these four-packs, the total comes to $82.00, or a price of $2.15 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.15 per ounce price, it's a decent value. I'm getting a satisfactory flavor with a good meat consistency and chewing texture. Compared to national brands of jerky sold in stores, it's priced a little higher but offers a similar-to-better snackability.

As a Smoked BBQ beef jerky, at the same $2.15 per ounce price, it's a good value. I'm getting a good deal of barbecue sauce flavor, of the mild, sweet variety, and a moderate level of smoke flavor.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Smoked BBQ beef jerky from Clint & Sons offers plenty of barbecue sauce flavor, weighted on the sweetness and tomato ketchup, but more of the mild variety with a lot less spice compared to the bottles and jars of barbecue sauces you find in stores. But it has a nice level of tanginess, and a noticeable smokiness that runs throughout the chewing.

Compared to other brands of barbecue jerky, this still tastes and feels right in the ballpark. The barbecue flavor is slightly better than the major brands of barbecue jerky, but somehow it's still not enough to push this up into a higher rating.

The meat consistency seems good, mostly tender, easy chewing, and the chewing texture feels good too, but still, not exceptional enough to impact the rating. It's just missing an extra characteristic to separate itself from the rest of the pack.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://www.clintandsonsbeefjerky.com/