Blu Collar Meat Co. - Holy Hot XXX

Blu Collar Meat Co. is a start-up jerky brand launched last April 2018 by Steven and Brandy Reinecke in Lancaster, CA. Marketed as "100% homemade beef jerky", Reinecke says they use only locally sourced meats and ingredients.

The name, "Blu Collar Meat Co." makes reference to Steven's profession as a welder. "We represent the working class, and everybody putting in work ... whatever your profession, we got the jerky for you".

This Holy Hot XXX variety is marinated in habanero, jalapeno, ghost pepper, and Carolina Reaper chiles for 24 hours. The company says, "This is no meat to play around with", and "Not for the faint of heart".

Ingredients

Beef, Garlic Powder, Habanero, Jalapeno, Crushed red pepper, Black Pepper, Bhut Jolokia powder, Carolina Reaper Pepper

Review

The first flavors I pick up is a salted, chile pepper flavor, more like the habanero and ghost pepper kind. There's a light sweet that comes in from the chewing, while the heat quickly builds up. I get an aged beef flavor along with a noticeable garlic towards the end.

For being named, "Holy Hot XXX" and made with a colletion of fiery hot chiles, this definitely is "Aye Chihuahua Hot!" It rates "hot" on our heat scale (level 5 out of 5). But despite the addition of Carolina Reaper and Ghost Pepper chiles, it's still toned down in heat. This is about as hot as a true Habanero beef jerky should be, but with the more pungent and floral flavors of the latter two.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a salted blend of Habanero, Jalapeno, Ghost Pepper, and Carolina Reaper chiles, with a noticeable garlic background, followed up with an aged, natural meat flavor.

These slices are chewy, though still easy to bite off and get through. They eventually feel very steak-like, comparable to something cooked medium-rare. Despite the heavier marbleized cuts, I didn't encounter any stringiness or unchewable tissues.

Verdict

This Holy Hot XXX variety from Blu Collar Meat Co. lights up the palate hotter than a stolen tamale from a West Texas truck stop! Actually, it's pretty darn hot, though not quite as hot one would expect from a jerky marinated in Ghost Peppers and Carolina Reapers. It's actually more an appropriate heat for Habaneros however, hot enough to perk up a sweat and reach for a drink, but not to the point of sticking your head into a 5-gallon tub of Ben & Jerry's. But this stuff is packed with FLAVOR! The full rich taste of habaneros, ghost peppers, and reaper chiles jumps right out. It's mixed in with a fair amount of garlic, and seemingly a little much on salt too. The soft, moist slices of round create a chewing texture like that of a medium-rare steak, while the marbleized natural meat flavors give off that fatted, beefy character.

Rating: Best (5/5)