Katie's Beef Jerky - Maple Habanero

Maple Habanero is the newest flavor from Katie's Premium Jerky & Snacks, a brand owned by Katie's Snack Foods, LLC based out of Hilliard, OH. It was started in 2014 by Katie Levesque, a graduate of The Ohio State University.

According to Katie, she loves jerky so much, that she actually sleeps with it under her pillow (in a plastic bag), and prefers spicy jerky (so that other people won't ask for some). She loves it so much, she left her career as an engineer to launch her own jerky company. Katie's Premium Jerky & Snacks is made in its own USDA inspected facility.

This "Maple Habanero" variety is so new, it's still not on the company's website, but we're assuming it's going to be very soon. The company also has another new variety called, "Maple" (sans habanero), but we didn't get it for review.

Ingredients

Beef, 100% maple syrup, water, gluten free soy sauce, salt, natural smoke flavor, distilled vinegar, onion powder, habanero pepper, garlic powder

Review

The first flavors that hit the tongue is a faint bit of maple and a touch of sweet, followed by a light bit of spicy heat. There's a light salt that comes in followed by a garlic and onion seasoning. Thew chewing brings on a beefy, natural meat flavor while the sweet ramps up just a smidge. The spicy heat continues to build slowly. I can also pick up a light habanero pepper flavor in the back. Towards the latter part of chewing, the soy sauce raises its head.

For being advertised as, "Maple Habanero", I can definitely pick up a fair amount of maple syrup flavor along with a slightly greater level of sweet. The maple races to the taste buds becoming one of the first flavors I picked up. The habanero is right there just as well, delivering enough of its unique piquant character with a good deal of fiery heat. The maple sweet seems well balanced the habanero, with neither ingredient having any more emphasis over the other. On our heat scale, I'd rate the heat as "hot" (level 5/5).

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a beefy, natural meat flavor with a marbleized character, seasoned with salt, garlic and onion, but with a fair amount of maple syrup and habanero pepper. There's still that light soy sauce that takes shape at the latter part of chewing.

The meat consistency looks great with its light marbleized streaks of fat. It's a mixture of slices, some thicker and softer, others thinner and chewier. On average, it's easy to chew through. The chewing texture starts out chewy, but softens up quickly enough and eventually takes on a steak-like feel. I found light amount of stringiness.

Verdict

This new Maple Habanero variety from Katie's Beef Jerky takes a unique sweet/heat contrast of fiery hot habanero peppers with gooey sweet maple syrup. It's like the American southwest meets the New England northeast in a meatsnack showdown of fiery hot smoked beef, slugging it out with a syrup-slathered short stack on a Sunday morning. The winner, of course, is you. You get to experience this tug-of-war of opposing profiles in your mouth as you slowly marry the two into a mixture of sweet, spicy, and savory chew. However, it's actually Katie's talents at bringing out a marbleized, natural meat flavor that I like the most. It's what keeps the focus on the beef, which is really why you're eating beef jerky. Overall, this is a jerky for fiery hot pepper lovers who crave that sweet/heat combo without compromising on habanero heat and flavor.

Rating: Best (5/5)