Hole In One Jerky - Flamecatcher

Hole In One Jerky is a new brand of meat snacks launched by Bud Ott and Crystal Ott based out of Corona, CA. The brand started in October 2014.

Bud had been working as a professional golf caddie for several years and relied on snacks of various sorts to keep his energy up. His wife Crystal finally developed the recipe that would become the company's Original variety, and Bud liked it so much, that they decided to start offering it on the golf course. By Christmas 2013, Crystal had come up with several flavors, including the logo that is used today on the packaging.

Hole In One Jerky is handmade from USDA Choice London Broil, and comes in numerous flavors. They currently sell online, as well as a small brick-n-mortar, and six beer breweries.

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, water, cayenne powder, chili arbor powder, liquid smoke, onion/garlic powder, black pepper, sesame seeds.

Review

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a lightly tangy and sweet, sauce flavor. I can pick up touches of garlic too. The chewing brings on more of a worcestershire sauce flavor, along with a light bit of heat and faint amounts of cayenne.

For being called, "Flamecatcher", one would expect something hot. The company's website describes this as "spicy" and I would agree it has a spiciness to it, but lower levels of heat. I do like the touches of cayenne pepper flavor, but considering I'm someone who likes hot foods, this doesn't quite give me the heat I expected with a jerky named "flamecatcher". On my personal heat scale, I'd rank this as "mild medium" (level 2 out of 5).

Otherwise, the flavors that define this jerky starts mainly with a light worcestershire sauce, but sweetened up substantially, and with some added vinegar tanginess. Toss in some light seasonings of cayenne pepper, black pepper, and garlic.

The meat consistency is much like with the company's other varieties, which is excellent. These strips of beef chew like real slices of steak, somewhat moist, a little tender, but still largely chewy as jerky is expected to be. Very little fat is found, light amounts of stringiness, and nothing unchewable.

Verdict: This "Flamecatcher" beef jerky from Hole In One has a nice balance between sweet, tangy, and savory that I felt creates a lot of chewing excitement. It's not as spicy or hot as you might think with a name like "Flamecatcher", but still offers a light level of heat and faint bits of cayenne flavor. But I think when put together across a meaty, steak-like chewing texture and consistency that this jerky offers, it creates an overall excellent jerky experience.

Rating: Best