The pair can be found at farmers markets across the San Diego area doling out taste samples. Their jerky is also sold at various stores and shops across town, and also sell from their website.
This "Craft Beer" jerky is part of their "Top Shelf Line" of alcohol-infused jerky, and was inspired by San Diego's love of craft beer. According to Jerky's Gourmet, "It packs a bold punch of traditional spices and, of course, lots of premium beer. We use the best domestic pale ale in our marinade to bring the on-tap flavor of hops and barley that will make your mouth water!"
Ingredients
Beef, beer, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, seasoned salt, lime juice, gluten free soy sauce, garlic, pepper, liquid smoke.
Review
The first flavor that hits my taste buds is a faint sweet. I can pick up that beer marinade in light amounts, along with a light saltiness and a wee amount of black pepper. The chewing brings on more of the beer marinade, with the defined malt flavor and some of the hoppy bitterness in the background.
As for being marketed as "Craft Beer" flavored jerky, it seems to hold up well. I can definitely taste the beer influence in the marinade. Having marinated a lot of steaks in beer myself, I can taste its effects on the meat pretty well. There's even a light alcohol burn in the chewing, but otherwise it's largely the malt and hops I pick up.
The flavors that largely define this jerky is the beer marinade with a moderate sweetness, along with a light burn from the alcohol and black pepper. On my personal heat scale, I'd rate this as "Mild Medium" (level 2 out of 5).
There's a light amount of savory character coming from the soy sauce and garlic. It also has a light fruity quality, perhaps from the lime juice and vinegar.
The meat consistency appears good, I do see some fatty streaks and connective tissues. I can also feel a fair amount of stringiness in the chewing. The chewing feels meaty, starting out lightly chewy initially, but chewing down with a light degree of effort. By the time it's chewed down soft, it feels like steak with some stringiness in there.
Verdict: This Craft Beer jerky from Jerky's Gourmet holds up to its advertising as a beer flavored jerky, giving out a strong malty/hoppy marinade. Being a craft beer aficionado myself, I really enjoyed the strong beer influence. But it's also quite complex in flavor, giving out a light spiciness from the black pepper and alcohol infusion, as well as a light fruity quality from the lime juice and vinegar, and the savory character of soy sauce and garlic. I found the chewing somewhat stringy, but still meaty and even a little steak-like.
Rating:
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I'm Steve Johnson, and I've been in the Internet marketing and publishing business since 1997. I've been a life-long fan of beef jerky and decided to merge my profession with my snack food of choice, and gave birth to Best Beef Jerky.
Even though it's made with gluten-free soy sauce, this shouldn't be considered a gluten-free jerky since it's made with beer (unless the beer itself is also gluten-free, which doesn't seem to be the case).
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