Chops Beef Jerky - Sweet & Spicy

Chops Beef Jerky is a brand owned by Chops Snacks, Inc. based out of New Haven, CT. The company was started in June 2016 by two recent Yale University undergraduates, Luke Sellers and Aaron Jones, along with food industry veteran Dusty Jaquins.

The company claims their jerky is made from 100% USDA Choice and Select beef brisket, sourced from cattle within the United States. They use no MSG, no nitrites, and no artificial preservatives. Their jerky is labeled as "all natural" and "exceptionally tender", while their website further claims to be gluten-free.

This Sweet & Spicy is described by Chops as, "the perfect balance between sweet pineapple and lemon juice with the kick from chili peppers".


Ingredients

Beef brisket, low sodium gluten-free Tamari Sauce, brown sugar, cayenne pepper sauce, lemon juice, black pepper, granulated garlic, jalapeno powder

Review

The first flavors that hit my tongue is a noticeable sweet, followed by soy sauce. There's a light spiciness building up in the background. Black pepper comes in next. The chewing brings on a more defined soy sauce and increased black pepper.

For being marketed as a Sweet & Spicy beef jerky, it holds up well. There's definitely a good deal of sweet, but also a noticeable spiciness. The level of heat rates as "medium" on our heat scale (level 3 out of 5). I don't identify the pineapple and lemon juice that the company described, but it does have a light tang and faint fruity character.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a blend of sweet and salt anchored by a soy-sauce. The black pepper is prominent, while faint notes of fruit and tang linger. The cayenne pepper sauce is not noticeable in terms of flavor, nor is the jalapeno, however the heat is there.

The meat consistency is great for a brisket cut jerky. Compared to other brands boasting brisket cuts, this is very meaty, perhaps offering more meat and less fat and stringiness. It's also quite tender as the package claims. It's very easy to chew, lending itself to greater snackability and the urge to eat more. It takes on a chewing texture much like a filet-mignon cooked medium-rare.

Verdict

This Sweet & Spicy beef jerky from Chops delivers exactly what it's flavor name promises, a good dose of sweet with a prominent, yet medium-level heat. The soft, moist chewing makes this jerky quite enjoyable, and tends to magnify the flavor. However, the flavor is still rather ordinary. It's largely a seasoned soy sauce spiced with black pepper. I would have liked to taste more of the jalapeno and cayenne, or perhaps get bursts of chopped garlic. There actually is a complexity of flavors in here, but the higher soy sauce and salt makes it difficult to notice anything else during normal gorging. Otherwise, it's the moist, tender meat consistency that steals most of the spotlight.

Rating: Good (4/5)