Country Butcher Beef Jerky - Sweet & Spicy

Country Butcher is a brand that's been around since 2001 (based on our research). The company itself did not send us samples for review; we were provided samples by one of their online retailers. Country Butcher was started by Ken Croucher, based out of Placentia, CA.

Croucher has been making jerky since 1974, and perfected his recipe while working at a grocery store where he could offer samples to customers and gather feedback. He's been relying on the same recipe ever since. According to online documents, Croucher developed a beef jerky recipe for Perky Jerky. Perky Jerky grew to fame by offering the world's first energy-infused jerky, using Croucher's recipe, and today they're one of the biggest jerky brands on the market. Country Butcher currently sells online through Amazon and eBay, and a variety of other outlets.

This Sweet & Spicy variety is marked as being made from "Brisket". It's also marked, "Gluten Free" and "All Natural".

Ingredients

Beef brisket, gluten free reduced sodium tamari soy sauce, brown sugar, cayenne pepper sauce, lemon juice, black pepper, granulated garlic, jalapeno powder

Review

The first flavors that come into view is a noticeable natural meat flavor, followed by a light sweet and a faint salt. The soy sauce slowly rolls in. The chewing brings on more soy sauce definition while a light spicy heat starts on. Further into the chewing, the cayenne pepper flavor is barely noticeable.

For being marketed as, "Sweet & Spicy" the sweet sits at a moderate level, not too much, but not too little, yet continues to generate a lot of this jerky's flavor. The spiciness is light in the first couple of pieces, over the course of the entire three ounce bag, it does actually ramp up to what I would rate as "mild medium" on our heat scale (level 2/5). There's even a wisp of cayenne pepper flavor, while the black pepper helps out.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile are the natural meat flavors doused with a light soy sauce, but fairly well sweetened, and spiced up lightly with black pepper and cayenne.

The chewing is very soft and tender, almost to the point of a kippered meat snack. It's very "melt in your mouth" and once chewed down, has the consistency of filet mignon cooked medium rare. Despite these being cut from brisket, they don't feel stringy at all.

Verdict

This Sweet & Spicy beef jerky from Country Butcher offers a very classic interpretation of a tried and true flavor profile, offering up a fair amount of sweet with just a light bit of heat from a combination of black pepper and cayenne. You actually get more natural meat flavor out of this than the company's other varieties, perhaps due to a more simpler recipe. Otherwise, this jerky's biggest positive is the soft, moist chewing, leaching out more flavors and making it all too easy to transition from mouth to stomach with little wasted time. Flavorwise however, I find the overall taste unremarkable aside from the natural meat flavors. It's sweet and spicy, and that's about it. But keeping in mind, it's a simple jerky that manages to deliver a lot of beef's natural goodness.

Rating: Good (4/5)