Wicked Cutz Beef Jerky - BBQ Mesquite

Wicked Cutz Beef Jerky is a new brand, having debuted just a couple of months ago. It was launched by Branch Warren, a well-known body builder who has won numerous competitions over past couple of decades. Warren also owns other companies that market apparel and body building supplements.

Warren's move into beef jerky touches upon his heritage in the Texas cattle industry going back 150 years. He grew up on a cattle ranch and in his youth spent time as a ranch hand before moving on to body-building. Now in his retirement, he sought to start his own jerky brand and touch upon his cattlemen roots.

This BBQ Mesquite is described by the company as, "no ordinary jerky", going on to say that it's, "flavor is so pronounced", and, "taste is so delicious, this jerky will leave even the most loyal Pitmasters wishing they had more."

Ingredients

Beef, brown sugar, soy sauce, tomato sauce, white vinegar, mesquite smoke, granulated onion, granulated garlic, ground pepper, cayenne, cumin

Review

The first flavors that hit my taste buds is a heavy sweet barbecue sauce. A light spiciness comes in later. The chewing brings on a more tomatoey flavor, along with a light tanginess, and seasonings of garlic, onion, black pepper, and cayenne.

For being marketed as "BBQ Mesquite", this does have a clearly distinct barbecue sauce flavor, definitely more of the Kansas City style due to its strong sweet, tomatoey sauce. It's has a bold seasoning blend and even lightly spicy. It rates a "mild medium" on our heat scale (level 2 out of 5). The mesquite, on the other hand, remains light, and is not that well noticeable against stronger barbecue sauce.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a heavily sweet Kansas City style barbecue sauce, well seasoned and lightly spicy.

The chewing texture is overall easy, though retaining a light chewy nature. They do soften up quickly without much effort. They take on a meaty, steak-like texture, with only light stringiness. I don't see any fat on these slices.

Verdict

This BBQ Mesquite beef jerky from Wicked Cutz delivers more of a Kansas City style barbecue flavor due to its heavy sweet, tomato sauce flavor. However, it has shades of Texas-influence with bold seasonings and light spiciness, but also delivers shades of Georgia style for its lightly tangy, vinegar chewing. In fact, indeed it's a very "pronounced" flavor as the company described and I would even be willing to guess that many pitmasters would be envious of it too. While I didn't really pick up much mesquite flavor, as the flavor name suggested, I was still pretty impressed with the sauce. You'll get a tender, moist chew in these slices of meat, with a texture that still feels like real steak.

Rating: Best (5/5)