Monday, January 29, 2024

Astro Fresh Jerky - Whiskey BBQ

astro fresh jerky
Astro Fresh Jerky is a brand owned by HJP Trading, LLC based out of Los Angeles, CA. It was started by Roy Park in early 2015 who found an old family recipe that dated back to the late 1980s.

Since then, Roy has been selling his jerky in local markets and retailers in California. Recently they started a website and are now taking online orders.

Astro Fresh Jerky currently lists 10 varieties of beef jerky and 1 variety of chicken jerky.

Ingredients

Beef, BBQ sauce, brown sugar, BBQ seasoning, whiskey bourbon, vinegar, honey, liquid smoke, corn syrup solids, cayenne pepper, sodium nitrite

Review

The first flavors that hit my palate are a strong sweet, BBQ sauce, and light bits of seasonings. The chewing brings on more sweet and BBQ sauce, but with a light vinegar tanginess. There's a light bit of heat in the background.

For being marketed as "Whiskey BBQ", it barely holds up. The whiskey bourbon component is difficult to identify. I do, however, pick up traces of whiskey flavor, mostly as alcohol and touches of malt. But if you weren't told this had whiskey in it, you'd never notice it. Otherwise, it largely tastes like BBQ sauce. It's the kind of BBQ sauce with loads of sweet, and moderate spiciness. It's tomatoey, with some tanginess, and a little bit of smoke flavoring.

There's also a light bit of heat in the background from the cayenne, but it's just enough to rate as "mild medium" on my personal heat scale (level 2 out of 5).

The primary taste profile is that of a heavily sweet BBQ sauce, mostly mild in spiciness, but with a light tang in the chewing.

I find some streaks of fat on some pieces, which adds a light fatty flavor. Otherwise, the heavy sweet and thick sauce makes this jerky rather gummy, and very sticky to handle. Somes pieces are very soft and moist, while others can be dry on the inside, but sticky on the outside. The chewing texture starts out gummy, but takes on a somewhat meaty character as the sweetness wears off. There's a light bit of stringiness, but nothing unchewable.

Verdict

This Whiskey BBQ from Astro Fresh Jerky dishes out a BBQ sauce flavor that's moderate in spice, heavy in sweet, but lightly tangy and smoky. The whiskey component is subtle, and you may not even notice it, but I think there's just enough there to support the name. Otherwise, this jerky is a little too sweet for my tastes, though the BBQ sauce flavor is quite snackable and good. I liked the touch of cayenne heat in the background, though I found the sticky handling to be a nuisance. Overall, it's a snackable jerky that's somewhat easy to chew, though also gummy and gooey. On the other hand, it doesn't do much to differentiate itself from other brands of whiskey-laced BBQ sauce jerky.

But, if you just like thick, sweet, BBQ sauced jerky, then this is a great choice.

Rating: Good (4/5)


whiskey bbq jerky

bbq jerky

0 comments:

Post a Comment