Friday, August 1, 2008

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky - Premium Spicy

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky - Premium SpicyBuffalo Bills Beef Jerky is a brand that has been around since 1990, produced by a company called Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc., based in Lebanon, PA.

In addition to beef jerky, they also make beef sticks and candies. The company claims to use 100% all American-made ingredients including meat from American born and raised cattle.

The company came into being when four independent snack food distributors decided to join forces and get into the beef jerky business. Their first product was their Premium Hickory Smoked, which I reviewed earlier. They also make a "Western Cut" and a "Country Cut" line of jerky, which represents the thin dry jerky, and the soft and tender jerky, respectively.

Ingredients

Beef, sugar, water, vinegar, soy sauce, salt, garlic powder, red pepper, black pepper, cayenne chili, liquid smoke, sodium nitrite.

Taste

There is a good amount of sweetness that comes on quickly upon a putting a piece into my mouth, which is followed by a strong meat flavor. The spicy bite from the red pepper also makes itself known right away.

The sweetness is something I find stronger in some pieces than others, but overall I can't say that this is a sweet flavored jerky, and I don't think it's sweet enough to advertise it as such. But, the sweetness is definitely there.

However, the spiciness is more defined. After a few pieces, I'm feeling a nice, yet maybe quaint, burn on the tongue. I'd rate this as medium. Others might see this as medium-hot. There's enough pieces of red chili pepper on this jerky that I can taste it's unique flavors.

The natural meat flavors are very evident in this, and come through without even chewing. I can also pick up a little bit of the smokiness.

In terms of the other ingredients, I don't really see this as being salty, even though I can detect some of it. The soy sauce is not really that detectable either, nor is the black pepper, the garlic or the cayenne.

For the most part, this jerky offers a good taste, dominated by a sweetness that transitions into a strong natural meat flavor, and a spicy taste of red chili pepper. But aside from that, I'm not really tasting much else. I would like to taste one other dimension to this, maybe more garlic, more cayenne, more soy sauce...

Meat Consistency

These are cut from solid pieces of meat, sliced into medium to thick thickness, and in small to average sized pieces. Note that this variety comes in a small 1oz package, and it's not possible to include larger pieces. I'm eating two of these 1oz packages for review.

This is a dry jerky that has some flexibility to it. Some effort is required in tearing apart a piece, but not too bad if you tear with the grain. Chewing also requires some effort. You'll want to let a piece soften up in your mouth anyways to enjoy the flavors.

I didn't find any pieces with fat, tendon, gristle, or anything else chewy.

Overall, the meat consistency is good, providing a good beef jerky enjoyment, a little on the tough side, but not too bad.

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky - Premium Spicy

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky - Premium Spicy

Product Value

Choo Choo R Snacks sells this Premium Spicy variety in a box of 12 packages, each in 1oz sizes, for a price of $19.99. That works out to $1.67 per ounce, making this an average priced buy.

I'd say that makes this a good value, with it's good taste and good meat consistency. As a spicy variety, it holds its value pretty well too.

Rating

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky - Premium SpicyI'm giving this good rating.

This Premium Spicy variety from Buffalo Bills offers a great smoky meat flavor, and does a good job of living up to its spicy billing, along with a moderate sweetness that I found enjoyable.

But aside from that, I also found it to be just a tad on the bland side in terms of seasonings. I think Buffalo Bills could add an extra taste dimension without detracting from the natural meat flavor. And while the meat consistency is good, it's not great. It's a tad tough, requiring some effort to tear apart and chew.

But for general purpose jerky eating, it's great. If you love the dry variety, you'll love this, being thicker than most dry jerkies, and retaining some great meat flavor. It's not even that salty, either. I could be happy eating more of this stuff.

Rating: Good

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