Whiskey Hill Smokehouse - Gator Jerky

Whiskey Hill Smokehouse is a brand owned and operated by Whiskey Hill Smokehouse, LLC, based out of Hubbard, OR. The company also owns The Jerky Hut brand of jerky, along with Bakke Brothers Brand.

According to the company, the Whiskey Hill Smokehouse brand focuses on exotic meats and more exotic recipes than The Jerky Hut and the Bakke Brothers lines. It also focuses on all natural ingredients and its jerky varieties are all marked as "Gluten Free".

Whiskey Hill Smokehouse doesn't make any marketing claims on this Gator Jerky aside from being low fat, high protein, and that it "tastes like chicken".

Ingredients

Alligator, water, brown sugar, sugar, gluten free soy sauce, garlic, spice, natural smoke flavoring, celery powder

Review

The first flavor I pick is sweetness, followed by a light salt, and a light fishy flavor. The chewing brings on the natural meat flavors, while the black pepper starts building. There's a faint garlic in the background.

For being an alligator jerky, you get a lot of the natural alligator meat flavors in this. The flavor is not as fishy as other brands of alligator jerky I've reviewed, but it still retains some fishiness which is just a fact of gator jerky. On the other hand, there's a more significant fishy aftertaste that lingers for 15 to 30 minutes. Aside from the sweetness and black pepper, there's not a lot of other seasonings that get in the way. I doesn't at all taste like chicken as the company claims on its website.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is the natural alligator meat flavor laden with lots of sweet, a fair amount of black pepper, light salt, and traces of garlic. It's fairly mild, despite the black pepper seasoning.

The meat consistency is great. These appear to be strips of pure meat. I've had a lot of other gator jerky brands that include quite a bit of fat and chewy tissues, and this has none of it. The chewing starts out rubbery, which is fairly common for alligator jerky, but it does chew down into something more meat-like. Overall, it's chewy, yet still quite easy to get through. Handling these pieces will result in a fishy smell on your fingers.

Verdict

This Gator Jerky from Whiskey Hill Smokehouse does a great job of giving strips of pure alligator meat instead of being laden with chunks of fat and tissues that many other gator brands tend to do. You get a lot of alligator meat flavor in these strips, with a minimal level of fishiness. Despite the stronger sweet and fair amount of black pepper seasoning, this jerky is minimally flavored to let the natural goodness of gator to come through. While many other alligator jerky brands use a 50/50 blend of chopped alligator and chopped beef, Whiskey Hill Smokehouse is giving you 100% whole muscle gator meat, which other brands can easily let become too fishy. But this brand manages to keep the fishiness down, and the natural flavors up. So kudos to them. I'm still staying away from a 5-star rating on this because as good of a job that Whiskey Hill Smokehouse has done with this, you have to be an absolute alligator meat lover to be thrilled by gator jerky. It's one of those meats better suited for gumbos and jambalayas.

Rating: Good (4/5)

Where to buy:

• Buy Whiskey Hill Smokehouse Gator Jerky