Whiskey Hill Smokehouse - Whiskey BBQ 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".

This "Whiskey BBQ" is part of a series of alcohol-infused jerky varieties recently launched by Whiskey Hill Smokehouse. Others include Maple Bourbon, and Saki-Teriyaki. The package is marked, "Gluten Free".

Ingredients

Beef, brown sugar, water, tomato paste, whiskey, gluten free soy sauce, salt, molasses powder, honey, natural smoke flavoring, spices, garlic, onion

Review

The first flavor I pick up is the whiskey, mostly through its fermented character, but also with a light malt and burn. There's also a notable spiciness, comparable to cayenne. The tomatoey BBQ sauce comes in. The chewing brings on more of a classic BBQ sauce, with a fair amount of sweet, along with a light smoke flavor.

For being marketed as "Whiskey BBQ" this really hits the marks dead on. I get an easily identifiable whiskey malt, fermented flavor, and a light alcohol burn going down. It's probably the first flavor that comes in. The BBQ part is well represented through a classic, tomatoey profile and a lot of sweet. It also has a bold seasoning with good douses of garlic, onion, black pepper, and a bit of cayenne.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a thick sweet, tomatoey BBQ sauce, well seasoned, with an easily-identifiable whiskey flavor. You get a light smokiness along with a beefy, steak-like flavor that comes in towards the end. It's moderately spicy, registering a "medium" on our heat scale (level 3 out of 5)

The meat consistency is excellent. These are thick strips of pure meat with no signs of fat and no stringiness detected. The initial bites are chewy, yet are still easy enough to get through, but chew down to a steak-like, meaty texture. There's a faint bit of stickiness that remains on the fingers.

Verdict

This Whiskey BBQ beef jerky from Whiskey Hill Smokehouse is a great representation of the company's namesake, delivering a lot of whiskey malt and ferment in the initial taste and evening a little bit of a burn as it goes down. The BBQ sauce in this is equally decadent through its thick sweet, tomatoey profile and bold blend seasonings. There's even a smoke flavor that comes through and a beefy natural meat flavor towards the end. Even these thick slices of pure meat create a lot of chewing enjoyment though remain easy enough get through. While you're not going to get tipsy from these slices of alcohol-infused beef, there's still plenty of whiskey flavor buried in this BBQ glaze that you can't help seeing banjos and Smoky Mountains with each bite.

Rating: Best (5/5)

Where to buy:

• https://whiskeyhilljerky.com