Jim Beam Beef Jerky - Barbeque

Jim Beam Beef Jerky is something that hit convenience stores by storm in late 2004. It's a product of Thanasi Foods, LLC, based out of Boulder, CO.

The company managed to get Jim Beam Brands Co. to license its name out to another product for the very first time in its history. Thanasi originally used the name for its line of Jim Beam Sunflower Seeds in 2003, and then a year later introduced the beef jerky.

In 2005, Thanasi actually won an award from CSP Magazine, for its beef jerky, as the best new product in the meat snack category. CSP Magazine serves the convenience store and gas station industries.

It wasn't until 2006 that Thanasi extended the beef jerky line to the Peppered and Barbeque varieties. Thanasi Foods, LLC specializes in combining favorite snack foods with a well-known brand as a special ingredient. They also offer "Frank's Red Hots Beef Jerky".

From what I can tell, Thanasi doesn't make their own beef jerky, it's private labeled.

Ingredients List

Beef, water, brown sugar, salt, sugar, BBQ seasoning (fructose, salt, chili powder (chili pepper, spices, salt, dehydrated garlic), less than 2% of dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic, spices, spice extractives, natural smoke flavor (maltodextrin), yeast extract, dextrose), genuine Jim Beam Bourbon, seasonings (high fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose, water, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors), hyrolized soy protein, black pepper, spices, garlic powder, white pepper, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite

Taste

The first thing I taste in this Barbeque variety, is just a slight barbeque taste with some good spiciness. It's a tad on the salty side. It has the same factory smell and taste that you come to know from a brand like Jack Link's, in fact I wonder if they might be the company that made this.

As for Jim Beam Bourbon, I can't taste much of it. It doesn't have any kind of dominating smell or taste of bourbon. If you didn't know this was marinated in bourbon, you'd never know it. The only way to taste the bourbon marinade is to chew and suck on a piece for awhile, and then you can "kinda" taste it. But you have to be a regular Jim Beam drinker to identify it.

But there is no alcoholic stupor that comes from eating this. I cannot taste or sense any alcohol at all, zip, zero, nada. All I can detect is a subtle Jim Beam aftertaste.

For the most part, this tastes like "regular" or "original" beef jerky, with some spiciness to it. But I would not classify this as "hot". Maybe "mild" to "medium hot".

As for the natural meat flavors, there appears to be some. I had to chew up a piece first, soften it up, and then suck out the juices, and then think hard if I could taste any. And then sure enough, I tasted some.

Overall, it has good flavor if you like spicy beef jerky, or salty beef jerky.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be real slices of meat, cut into average thickness, and in small bite sized pieces. Keep in mind I bought the 1.7 oz bag, instead of the standard 3.5 oz bag.

The pieces are somewhat soft, and on the dry side. I would not classify this as "soft and tender". But it's certainly not hard or tough. For the most part it's easy to tear apart and chew. It's probably better to just chew a piece slightly and suck on it a little, to get more flavor out of it.

There is some marbilization of fat in these pieces, but otherwise the fat isn't much noticeable.

Most of the pieces were easy to eat, and I didn't find much in tendon or gristle.





Product Value

I paid $2.99 for this small 1.7oz bag at a 7-Eleven in Murrieta, CA. That works out to $1.76 per oz. That's in the average-price ballpark.

As a beef jerky it has good value. It offers a pleasant beef jerky experience, not too tough, not too soft. There's plenty of spicy flavor, and it has great snackability, keeping me reaching for more.

But as a beef jerky that sells itself as being marinated in Jim Beam Bourbon, it falls on its face. If I were a Jim Beam drinker, and beef jerky lover at the same time, I end up feeling ripped off.

Note that the official website for Jim Beam Beef Jerky, actually requires you to verify your age, as if only persons 21 years and older are allowed to learn about this jerky.

Rating

I'm giving this an "average" rating.

This Barbeque variety is basically a good beef jerky for general purpose snacking. It's what you'd come to expect from all of the large commercial brands. It does offer some good spicy flavor, and it's easy to eat.

But because it promotes itself as being soaked in genuine Jim Beam Bourbon, you expect to taste the bourbon, or experience something on a totally different level. But alas, there's none of it.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• Amazon.com