Mountain America Jerky is a brand and jerky retailer based out of Denver, CO, offering a wide variety of exotic meat jerkies, including one of the handful that offers alligator jerky.
This is the first alligator jerky I've ever had, though I've had alligator in other dishes, mostly in stews and jamalayas. However, all of my previous gator eating has been in dishes with lots of sauces and spices, so I can't say I really got a good taste of what alligator tastes like. Gator is is a white meat, said to taste something similar to chicken, and frog's legs. Typically it's the tail that's used, since that's where much of the meat is.
Best I can tell, this particular jerky from Mountain America Jerky is 100% alligator; it hasn't been combined with beef, which is something you see with many exotic meat jerkies.
Ingredients
Alligator, brown sugar, soy sauce, water, salt, spices.
Taste
The flavors I pick up from the surface of these pieces is a strong meaty aroma, a good deal of smoky flavor, just a wee bit of sweet, and finally the black pepper starts coming in. In the chewing, I get more black pepper taste, a good deal of natural meat flavors, and some saltiness.
The taste of the alligator meat is very noticeable in this, and seems to make up the majority of the chewing flavor. I can't say that this tastes like chicken, but I can some similarities to chicken. It has a taste very much of its own. There is an aftertaste reminiscent of turkey, and maybe a wee bit of fishiness to it. For being preservative free, it seems to have a fresh taste.
The black pepper is another strong component, and dominates the palate after awhile. It's aftertaste is very strong. I'd say is the second-most dominant flavor, behind the natural meat flavors.
The salt intensity level is moderate, and probably accounts for the third-most dominant flavor overall.
The soy sauce listed in the ingredients lists is hardly noticeable, the same can be said for the brown sugar. It seems like there's some garlic in this also, I'm getting that garlic aftertaste.
Even though this jerky is not marked as a black peppered variety, it could easily pass as one, having a strong black pepper taste. But I think the natural meat flavors of alligator still come through stronger.
Meat Consistency
These appear to be chunks of whole meat, cut into bite sized pieces, similar to beef stew meat.
It's a semi-moist jerky, but not soft and tender. It's actually quite chewy, and a little hard in the first few chews. But it eventually hydrates and softens up nicely.
The chewing texture is very steak-like, very meaty, much like what you'd expect in a nugget of dried meat.
Each piece leaves behind a very thin layer of oily residue on my fingers. It's not to the point where I have to lick them clean, I can just rub my fingers together, and continue typing away. Other than that, it seems pretty clean eating.
I do see fragments of fatty tissue and connective tissue, but nothing chewy, and nothing foul tasting.
Snack Value
House of Jerky sells this Mountain America alligator jerky from its website at a price of $18.99 for two 1.75 oz packages. That works out to a price of $5.43 per ounce, making this a very expensive jerky. House of Jerky says that price also includes the shipping.
In this paragraph I normally talk about "general jerky snacking purposes", as a way to express how much snacking enjoyment you're going to get for your dollar, regardless of the type of meat. Considering how expensive this is, suffice to say it doesn't make sense to purchase this to appease the common snacking bug. However, I do find a good deal of snackability in this with its strong natural meat flavors and strong black pepper seasoning.
But as an alligator jerky, it's a great value. I say that only because this jerky provides a strong natural meat flavor. And considering how much you have to pay to get this, you definitely want to taste the alligator, and not just a bunch of seasonings. I haven't tried any other alligator jerky, and I don't know the market price for alligator, so I don't know if this truly is a good value. But if I wanted buy more alligator jerky, I at least know I can get some good alligator taste with this brand.
Rating
I'm giving this a good rating.
This being my first alligator jerky, I'm not sure I'm a fan just yet. There's a certain aftertaste to alligator jerky that doesn't quite sit well with me. Maybe I just need to try more brands and varieties.
I mostly rated this particular brand on its technical points. That is, it has a dominant natural meat flavor, and a strong flavor intensity. It's a little hard to chew at first, but its plentitude of surface flavors allows you to suck on a chunk first, and soften it up. I didn't feel justified in giving this the higher "best" rating only because I didn't find anything that wowed me. It's good jerky, and that's about it.
For all I know, Mountain America may have the very best alligator jerky in the world, but I won't know that until after I tried several other brands. Perhaps after I've done so, I'll be willing to review this particular brand again. But, considering how expensive alligator meat can be, at least you're getting a strong natural meat flavor in this jerky.
As for my beer recommendation, I think a wheat beer, or hezeweizen would work well with this.
Rating: 
Good
Buy this online:
Also new to House of Jerky is this Black Pepper Alligator Jerky. See our reviews of other varieties from House of Jerky.
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Alligator Bob's is a brand name of Robert N. Young and Associates, Inc. based out of Thonotosassa, FL. They specialize in selling exotic meat jerky, particularly alligator.
Mountain America Jerky is a brand and jerky retailer based out of Denver, CO, offering a wide variety of exotic meat jerkies, including one of the handful that offers alligator jerky.
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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.
