Gran D Jerky - Honey BBQ

Gran D Jerky is a new jerky company that launched in January 2012, based in Caracas, Venezuela. To my understanding it's being sold in stores in Venezuela, and has sponsored a variety of sporting events around the country. The company is expanding its infrastructure to accommodate increasing demand.

This Honey BBQ flavor is their only variety thus far. The company's President sent me samples for review, saying that it's cut directly from pieces of meat, but that they're looking into making it from minced meat.

I don't know if they plan to distribute Gran D Jerky to the United States.

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Wilderness Jerky Outlet - Honey Barbeque Smoked Wild Boar

Next in the series on Wilderness Jerky Outlet is this Honey Barbeque Smoked Wild Boar jerky. Read my review of their Smoked Wild Boar.

Wilderness Jerky Outlet is a brand of Wilderness Jerky Outlet, Inc. of St. Johns, MI. It's an actual store where you walk in and buy a variety of smoked meats including jerky, meat sticks, sausages, smoked salmon, and a few other things. But they also have a website where you can buy their products online.

The package label on this Smoked Wild Boar goes on to say, "Wild Boar from ferral swine". This particular wild boar jerky was manufactured by Michigan Brands, Inc., a company that makes jerky for a lot of other Michigan-based jerky companies.

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Bulk Beef Jerky - Honey Barbecue

Bulk Beef Jerky is a retailer of beef jerky, based in Troy, MI, selling a variety of brands, mostly through its website. But they also market their own brand as well which they call "Bulk".

Their jerky is manufactured by Michigan Brands, Inc., based out of Bay City, MI, a company that private labels jerky for several brands. The last brand of jerky I reviewed that was made by Michigan Brands was Bruce's Jerky.

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Rite Aid Beef Jerky - Honey BBQ

A couple of days ago I posted a review of "Rite Aid Beef Jerky - Original", and wanted to follow up with this Honey BBQ variety. When I purchased that original variety, I also purchased this Honey BBQ, just so that I could offer my readers with reviews for at least two varieties of jerky under this brand.

As I said in the previous review, Rite Aid doesn't make their own jerky, it's private labeled through Mirab USA, who seems to private label jerky for hundreds of retailers. It appears that Mirab makes the same exact jerky for Rite Aid's chief competitor, Walgreens. However, Walgreens doesn't offer a Honey BBQ variety.

Also worth noting is that the Rite Aid Original variety I reviewed a couple of days ago had a sticker on it that said "FREE 10% More", giving me 3.85oz of jerky in a bag that was normally 3.5oz. But this Honey BBQ doesn't have that sticker.

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Bacon Freak - Bacon Jerky - Honey BBQ Rubbed

I've seen a lot of strange ideas for jerky, but perhaps bacon jerky is the strangest thus far. But at a time when brands are coming out with cactus jerky and tofu jerky, then hey why not bacon? At least it's meat. While traditional jerky is lean and dry, this stuff the is opposite, full of fat and very wet.

And who really cares anyway when we're talking about bacon? I mean, it's BACON!

Bacon Freak is a brand belonging to Moorpark, CA-based Coastal Vineyards, Inc., a company that started out running a wine club, where subscribers received bottles of wine each month. The company, founded by Rocco "Boss Hog" Loosbrock, then introduced food clubs for stuff like jams and jellies, barbecue sauces, olives, pasta, and bacon. Over the next several months, the bacon club proved popular, and has seemingly changed the focus of his business. He still offers the wine clubs, but the website of Coastal Vineyards is largely dominated by bacon and graphics of smiling pigs.

The concept of bacon jerky, according to Loosbrock, is so that you can enjoy bacon without having to feed your friends. He explains that when you cook bacon, the smell wafts its way around the house and throughout the neighborhood, causing hungry folks to show up. With bacon jerky, the aroma doesn't spread, allowing you to "hog" it all to yourself.

Ingredients

Cured with: salt, sugar, brown sugar, sodium nitrite

Coated with: golden honey BBQ rub

Ingredients: sugar, dry honey, salt, spices including paprika, soybean oil, citric acid, caramel color, garlic powder, natural hickory smoke flavor, oleoresin, paprika added for color, spice extractives.

Taste

Off the surface, I get a strong, classic taste of smoked bacon, backed with a good deal of sweetness, and a good deal of saltiness. In the chewing, it's just more bacony goodness, more salty, but none of the sweet.

For being a bacon jerky, you're getting tons of bacon flavor, mostly because it's real bacon. And it doesn't taste like the standard bacon you'd get from the grocery store chains, this has a very "old fashioned taste" that conjures up images of a bygone era somewhere in the heartland of the USA. It has a more meaty taste than the thin sliced stuff you get today.

But for being a "Honey BBQ Rubbed" variety, it certainly is sweet, but I don't pick up the BBQ part. I don't really see this as having any kind of barbecue taste. But that shouldn't detract from the taste of this product. It's still very delicious.

The saltiness tastes high compared to other meat jerkies, and even tastes high compared to grocery store bacon. But I find the flavor of this jerky to be so good, that it doesn't really bother me. Note there is no nutrition facts label with this product.

And if you're thinking that the heavy amount of fat will create a spoiled taste, it doesn't. It tastes just like bacon fat, which is probably the best tasting fat of all.

Meat Consistency

These are strips of bacon, sliced thick, and in lengths of about 3-4 inches.

It doesn't eat like standard bacon, it actually retains a chewy nature very comparable to jerky. There's enough meat on these strips that you'll get a decent amount of chewing. Even the fat has a chewy nature to it. The chewiness overall is similar to many of the "soft and tender" jerkies out there.

And for being real bacon, it's just as oily as you might expect. The oil gets all over my fingers, and with each bite I have to lick them off. There's also a good deal of sugary glaze on these strips that adds to the cleanup.




Product Value

Bacon Freak sells this Honey BBQ Rubbed variety of bacon jerky at a price of $9.95 for a 2 ounce package. That works out to a price of $4.98 per ounce, putting this into the very expensive price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it's probably too expensive to buy up pounds of this stuff to satisfy your meat snacking urges. And if bacon is all you wanted, you can already buy pre-cooked bacon from the grocery store, though I doub't it'd taste better than this.

In terms of holding its value as a Honey BBQ Rubbed variety, it does well for being sweet. But if you buy this specifically because you like BBQ flavored snackfoods, then get yourself a bottle of BBQ sauce, as you won't taste any on this.

But I would definitely recommend the jerky-lover out there to buy a package of this stuff, it's well worth adding to your repertoire of jerky experiences.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

Bacon Freak may have hit upon the ultimate meat snacking idea, combining America's love affair with bacon, putting it into a snackable form factor, and topping it up jerky-like seasonings. It even eats like jerky, which I think justifies using the "jerky" product description.

While this particular variety of Honey BBQ Rubbed is for all intents and purposes, a sweet variety and not really BBQ, I found such great snackability in this, and great taste, that I couldn't keep my hands off of the "best" rating.

The price will probably prevent this product from becoming a part of your daily snacking habits, but it would make a great gift for that meat-fanatic in your family.

I think an IPA style of beer would work well with this.

Rating: Best (5/5)

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