Stater Bros. Beef Jerky - Peppered

Stater Bros. is a chain of grocery stores found only in Southern California. They've built a reputation as having the best fresh meat counter of all the grocery chains in SoCal.

They're also very popular with families who've lived in SoCal all their lives, based on the fact that the company has invested itself heavily into its own employees, willing to negotiate labor contracts favorably with labor unions as opposed to the national chains who've often been unwilling to talk.

I've never had their store brand of beef jerky before, but decided I needed to write a review. Aside from Peppered, they also offer an Original variety.

It appears the private labeler that made this jerky also made the same jerky for Albertson's. The beef jerky has the same appearance and aroma, and the packages have the same ingredients list, and exactly the same nutrition label. They even have the same computer lasered "best if eaten by" label, just different dates. Please refer to my previous review, "Albertson's Beef Jerky - Peppered".

Ingredients

Beef, water, sugar, vinegar, salt, maltodextrin, monosodium glutamate, flavorings, spice, citric acid, hydrolized corn protein, sodium nitrite

Taste

This particular bag of Stater Bros. peppered jerky has more visible pepper than the one offered by Albertson's. However, I can't say that it tastes more peppery than the Albertson's brand. It's about the same.

For the most part, what I taste is a peppery flavor, not very overpowering, some natural meat flavors, and some saltiness. It's not overly salty, similar to the Albertson's brand. There is some slight sweetness that you notice only on a few pieces. After that, there's isn't much other taste to enjoy.

There is some slightly smokiness as well.

The natural meat flavors are well evident. You can get even more beef taste by chewing on piece slightly, and keeping it in your mouth for about 20-30 seconds, and extracting the juices.

Meat Consistency

These are made with real slices of beef muscle, sliced medium, and in small to medium sized pieces.

Overall, these pieces are dry, but not too tough. Some pieces are somewhat tough. Ease of chewing and tearing apart probably ranges in the medium to slightly tough range.

I found that most pieces contain some tendon, making things a bit chewy, but nothing you can't swallow.





Product Value

I paid $3.50 for a 3.65oz bag, working out to $1.04 per oz, putting into the medium price range, but at the border with cheap. Compare that to the Albertson's brand, wehre I paid $1.25 per oz.

Overall, it provides good value for being priced this low. You get a jerky with good natural beef taste, with some average pepper flavor. I prefer more pepper flavor than this, so it might not be something I'd buy again. But it does offer some good snackability for general beef jerky enjoyment.

Rating

I'm giving this an "average" rating.

Stater Bros. Beef Jerky gave me the impression that its an average "garden variety" jerky, offering good taste and "fair" experience as a beef jerky, but didn't offer anything that stood out as different or exceptional. The somewhat tough meat consistency detracted a bit from the overall enjoyment, but it's still not that tough.

This is a jerky that Stater Bros. wanted in their product offering just so that it could offer a decent beef jerky at a low price point. It's good just to keep your jaws working, without grossing out your taste buds.

Rating: Average

Buy this from any Stater Bros. store.