Last in the series on Sturgis Beef Jerky is this Teriyaki variety. See my previous reviews of their Original and Peppered varieties.
Sturgis Beef Jerky is a brand of G&G Enterprises, Inc. based out of Sturgis, SD. The company original started in 1964 by the Gap family and over the years grew their brand by selling to local residents, ranchers, and many bikers who attend the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. They credit their loyal fans for helping them refine their recipe into what they currently sell today.
In 2002 they incorporated into G&G Enterprises, Inc. and now manufacture jerky in their own USDA inspected facility.
Beef rubbed with: corn syrup, soy sauce powder, salt, sugar, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, dextrose, monosodium glutamate, onion powder, dehydrated garlic spice, sodium erythorbate and soybean oil. Cured with water salt, sugar, sodium nitrite.
Taste
The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a moderate saltiness and a light sweetness. After several seconds, I can pick up a light onion and garlic flavor.
The chewing flavor starts with a soy sauce flavor and a stronger saltiness. There's a faint bit of a natural meat flavor. The onion and garlic flavor continues light.
For being labeled as a Teriyaki beef jerky, this doesn't hold up with what I would consider "teriyaki". This mostly has a soy sauce flavor, and then a light sweetness. To me, teriyaki should have a thick sweetness to help balance out that saltiness. It should also have the tangy, pungent flavor overtones from the sake and ginger, and this doesn't have it.
Instead, this tastes primarily like soy sauce but with a touch of sweet, and not really teriyaki, or at least not the kind of teriyaki I would expect from an authentic japanese restaurant.
I do pick up light touches of garlic and onion underneath the heavier soy sauce and saltiness.
There's also a little bit of natural meat flavor coming through in the last few chews before swallowing, right as the soy sauce starts wearing off.
Overall, what you're going to notice in this is a dominant soy sauce flavor, with a medium to high level of saltiness. There's just a touch of sweetness in this, and light bit of onion and garlic seasoning. It doesn't really taste like teriyaki.
Meat Consistency
These are slices of whole meat, sliced into strips of medium thickness and in lengths of ranging from one to five inches.
This is a dry jerky with a wet, sticky surface feel. Some strips can bend 180 degrees back on itself without cracking, while others will crack open at about 90 degrees or more. Biting chunks off are chewy, requiring some effort. Overall chewing varies between medium to tough.
The chewing texture starts out feeling stiff, like hard rubber. There's quite a bit of chewing resistance, but with some work it starts to break down. And once the break down starts, it falls apart quickly and chews down a soft mass easily. At that point it has a meaty, steak-like chewing texture, comparable to a steak cooked medium-well.
These strips appear to be very lean, with no visible signs of fat, no tendon or gristle. I do feel some stringiness, but it doesn't really get in the way nor produce any significant unchewable tissues.
In terms of clean eating, my fingertips pick up a fair amount of moisture and stickiness, requiring a licking and wiping before touching my keyboard.
Snack Value
Sturgis Beef Jerky sells this Teriyaki variety from its website at a price of $7.95 for a 4.5oz package. If you bought four packages, with shipping out to Southern California, it totals up to $38.62. That works out to a price of $2.15 per ounce.
For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.15 price per ounce, it seems to present a weak value. I'm not getting much snackability out of this due to an average flavor at best, but a more chewy, somewhat tough eating. Compared to the major brands of jerky found in grocery stores, it's priced a little bit more, but doesn't seem to produce any better flavor, and more tough and chewy.
As a Teriyaki beef jerky, at the same $2.15 per ounce price, it's a weak value again. I don't really see this as having a teriyaki flavor. It's mostly a soy sauce flavor with a touch of sweet, and none of the tangy, pungent flavor overtones you get in real teriyaki.
Rating
I'm giving this a fair rating.
This Teriyaki variety from Sturgis Beef Jerky didn't really provide what I would consider a real teriyaki flavor. Many other brands of teriyaki jerky tend to throw in some soy sauce and sugar and call it "teriyaki", and that's kinda what you're getting in this. By contrast, true teriyaki is more than that.
Instead, this is mostly just the soy sauce flavor, with an equally higher saltiness. The sweetness is at a light level, not enough to balance out that salt. As a result, it ends up tasting rather one-dimensional, and hence lacks any flavor-interest.
Even as just a snack, it doesn't provide much satisfaction due to the tougher chew, and higher saltiness.
My recommended beer pairing for this, go with something refreshing to quench the saltiness, with a lighter hop profile. Try Widmer's Drifter Pale Ale, or the Newcastle Brown Ale.
Rating: Fair
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