Kratos Beef Bars

Kratos High Protein Beef Bars is the newest brand of energy snacks just now hitting the market. Kratos is a brand owned by QuarterShare, LLC, based in Tulsa, OK, whose beef sticks we reviewed earlier last month.

Named for the mythical Greek God of strength and power, Kratos is made from 100% Midwest lean beef, contains 11gm of protein per bar, zero sugar, no preservatives, and are gluten-free.

Kratos comes in three flavors, Acai Berry, Blueberry, and Spicy Pepper.

Ingredients

Acai Berry: Beef, beef stock, salt, encapsulated citric acid, acai berry powder, celery juice, black pepper, red, pepper, garlic, coriander, hickory smoke flavoring.

Blueberry: Beef, beef stock, salt, encapsulated citric acid, blueberry powder, celery juice, black pepper, red pepper, garlic, coriander, hickory smoke flavoring (malto dextrin)

Spicy Pepper: beef, beef stock, salt, encapsulated citric acid, celery juice, black pepper, red pepper, jalapeno pepper, habanero pepper, garlic, coriander, hickory smoke flavoring (malto dextrin), tumeric powder, ground fenugreek.

Taste

All three flavors start out tasting much like a beef stick, with a mildy salty, ground beef flavor, with a little bit of an oily taste. I can also pick up a little bit of the smoke flavoring.

Acai Berry: There is just a touch of the acai berry flavor, enough so that I can taste the fruity, berry-like character, but overall it's still very much a meaty, beefy flavor. There's a faint bit of tanginess in the chewing.

Blueberry: Probably the most mild of the bunch, it's not as tangy or fruity as the Acai Berry variety, but there is indeed a lightly noticeable Blueberry flavor. But like the Acai Berry, this is still largely a meaty, beefy flavor.

Spicy Pepper: This variety has a light bit of spice, but is actually not that hot, despite containing jalapeno and habanero peppers. In fact, I'd still rate this as mild, it just has a touch of spiciness. I can pick up touches of tumeric, coriander, and black pepper. But otherwise, very much a meaty, beefy flavor.

Overall, between these three varieties, I think the Spicy Pepper is the better of the three. The chile pepper blend, along with the tumeric seasoning, seems to pair better with beef snacks. For the most part, these beef bars taste just like a typical beef stick, except they're shaped into bars.

Meat Consistency

The first thing you notice handling these beef bars is the oiliness. My fingers pick up enough oily residue that it makes me want to lick and wipe my fingers before touching anything else.

These are made from finely ground beef, having the same consistency as beef sticks. But compared to beef sticks, these are more soft, and lot less chewy. It's almost like eating Vienna Sausages from a jar, with an almost similar flavor.

But for the most part, imagine eating a beef stick, but without the casing, that's pretty much what these chew and feel like.

Snack Value

We don't have pricing info at this time.

Rating

I'm giving Kratos High Protein Beef Bars an average rating.

I actually prefer the Spicy Pepper variety for its peppery blend of flavors, which I think works better with meat snacks. I can understand the Acai Berry and Blueberry for its antioxidant qualities, which is what people want for health and muscle-building purposes.

Compared to other meat-based energy snacks and fitness snacks, Kratos seems to have a comparable to slightly-better flavor overall, mainly for its meaty, beef-stick flavor. In particular with those that I've reviewed here on Best Beef Jerky, such as Tanka Bar, OSTRIM, Spiro Sport Foods, and Steve's Original, Kratos is again slightly better in flavor.

Compared to the same brands against meat consistency, it's also slightly better. It has a more firm feel than the Tanka Bar and Spiro Sport Foods, but is equally as oily. OSTRIM and Steve's Original are cleaner handling, but is more along the lines of jerky.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://www.kratosfoods.com/