Wind River Jerky - El Paso Buffalo

Wind River Jerky Company is a tiny "mom and pop" business making gourmet jerky in Orem, UT. The business is so small, it's difficult to find their jerky anywhere. It's so small, they're website isn't even functional, that's how small it is. But the good news is you can still buy their stuff online from one of their distributors, Climax Jerky.

Brooke Comai, the owner of Climax Jerky, says Wind River mostly sells their jerky at local gun shows. She's been distributing the jerky since Wind River got started and describes it as a "really gourmet" jerky, where they go through extreme lengths to cultivate the most taste they can cultivate. This particular variety called "El Paso", is a buffalo jerky encrusted with tomatoes and peppers, similar to salsa.

Upon opening the package, it's very aromatic. Upon feeling it, it's very soft and moist. It practically has my mouth watering writing all this.

Ingredients

Buffalo, flavorings, tomatoes, chilies, honey, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice.

Taste

The tastes that I pick up from the surface of these pieces is tomatoes, soy sauce, salt, chili peppers, a sweetness (honey), in that order. I can also pick up a tangy taste, which I wonder may be the vinegar and/or lemon juice. Moving into the chewing, I can pick up some meat flavors, and more of that tanginess.

Tangy is probably a good word to describe this jerky. In fact the more I eat this, the more I feel that quality dominates this jerky. I tend to think it comes more from the lemon juice than the vinegar, but could be both.

That tangy taste also mixes pretty well with the chili pepper taste. It's not a hot jerky at all, I'd rate it as mild. But there is definitely a taste of chilies in this, mostly off the surface taste after you've let it moisten in your mouth for a few seconds.

There are actually bits of tomatoes covering these pieces, and I can feel them in my mouth, and get a good taste of them. It's interesting that Brooke Comai used the word "salsa" to describe this jerky, because I do indeed find this jerky's overall taste to resemble salsa. I get a garlic or onion taste, the tomato, chilies, and lemon juice, all of which are primary salsa ingredients.

It's not a salty jerky at all, even though I can taste the saltiness. It doesn't leave my mouth begging for a drink. Note that there is no nutrition facts label provided.

The natural meat flavors are light. I can mostly taste them after letting a piece moisten up in my mouth for a bit, and then chewing. Otherwise, you're not going to get a strong meat taste from this.

Overall, this is a very delicious jerky, packed with lots of flavor, and a good deal of flavor complexity. That tanginess is largely what dominates the flavor. I think "salsa-flavored" jerky is a good way to describe this.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced thick, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is a soft and tender jerky, being rather moist. It's very easy to tear a piece off with just your fingers. And it's very easy to eat, it practically falls apart in my mouth.

As soft as this is, it's got a certain amount of mushiness to it, but still some steak-like characteristics.

It doesn't leave much residue on my fingers, though there is a thin layer of moisture left behind. Here and there, pieces of meat or tomatoes fall off.

The best I can tell it's a pretty lean jerky, and while I don't find any tendon or gristle, I do find small balls of membranous tissue left in my mouth. They can be easily swallowed.




Product Value

This El Paso Buffalo variety from Wind River Jerky retails for $14.00 for four ounce package on Climax Jerky's website. That works out to a price of $3.50 per ounce, making this a very expensive jerky.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it's a decent value only because the taste is very good. If you can somehow find it for a cheaper price, it's snacking value goes up. Once I ate a piece, I couldn't hold myself back from eating more.

As a buffalo jerky, you might find it a slightly better value because buffalo jerky tends to be priced higher than beef jerky. But you won't realize any of that value in meat flavors. This jerky has little meat flavor, the flavor is mostly the marinade, seasonings and coverings.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

I really like the flavor of this. The thick covering of tomatoes and chiles will give you a tangy taste right off the bat, and that tanginess continues with its lemon juice and vinegar. You've also got the soy sauce working there, and what I think is some garlic and onion in the "flavorings". I can even detect the honey sweetness too. A lot of flavor complexity for the cultivated beef jerky snacker.

While the natural meat flavors are light on taste, this jerky is all about the those other flavors I described above. But you still get some meat flavors in this. And while I also described the chewing texture to be mushy, I think the overall taste of this will divert your attention away. This is a jerky to savor the flavor.

Even though the high cost of this may prohibit its use as your mainstay snack, I'd recommend folks try it at least once. Maybe buy it as a Christmas stocking stuffer for the meat snacker in your life.

I'd recommend a light ale, like a honey blond, as my beer choice.

Rating: Best

Buy this online:

• http://www.climaxjerky.com

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Wild Joe's Beef Jerky - Cajun

Cajun flavored jerky is often difficult for me to review because it's not too well defined as to what cajun should taste like. I've had cajun style ribs, cajun style burger patties, cajun style chip dip, and even cajun style pizzas. They all have a spicy kick, but that's about where the similarities end. After that, the differences are many.

This package of cajun style jerky from Wild Joe's shows a cartoon character blowing flames out of his mouth, suggesting I'm going to get a severe burning from eating this. I can only hope! Wild Joe's is a brand of Wild Joe's, Inc., a family-run business out of Cincinnati, OH. They've been around since 1990. The brand focuses on thin sliced jerky, free of preservatives.

While cajun style flavoring is often associated with being hot, I don't necessarily see it as simply that. But I do look for something that's packed with flavor, and something with lots of individual flavor components that I can taste.

Ingredients

Beef, water, soy sauce, smoke flavoring, garlic powder, black pepper, coated with cajun seasonings, garlic, spices, "white pepper", salt, black pepper, onion, red pepper.

Taste

The tastes I get off the surface starts with a strong soy sauce taste, which migrates into a salt taste. I can pick up a garlic taste and an onion too. Moving into the chewing, I can find some natural meat flavors, and a stronger salt taste. I can also find a stronger garlic and onion taste.

In the back of my mouth I can also feel a slight spicy tingling brewing.

Right off the bat, this jerky is indeed packed with lots of flavor. Most of that is realized in soy sauce flavor, which tends to carry over into the chewing. There's also a strong salt flavor, which is not too bad in the first few pieces, but over the course of a couple ounces of this jerky, dominates the palate and makes you want to drink something.

In terms of being a cajun style of jerky, I largely see this as a garlic & onion variety instead. While I do get a slight spicy burn in the back of my mouth, I'd rate it as only mild-medium. Instead of blowing flames out of my mouth, you'd see the words, "Oh, you tease!" blowing out instead.

Interestingly, when I let a piece soften up in my mouth for several seconds, the taste I get is remarkably similar to the seasoning in a package of ramen: soy sauce, salt, garlic, and onion, except with a bit of spiciness added.

The natural meat flavors can be found in this jerky, but are not well defined. The best way to find it is to suck on a piece for several seconds, and then chew it.

Overall, it's a very tasty jerky, with a good deal flavor complexity. I can taste the soy sauce, salt, garlic, onion, natural meat flavors, and even feel a slight spicy bite. I'd say the dominant taste of this jerky is still the soy sauce-salt combo, followed by the garlic & onion combo, and the natural meat flavors.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced thin to average, and in small to average sized pieces.

It's dry jerky, very dry in fact. It's not necessarily brittle, it does have a bit of flexibility, but any decent amount of bending will cause it to crack and break. For that matter, it's very easy to tear off a bite-sized piece, and moderately easy to eat.

It provides a chewing experience that seems to resemble a real steak, once it hydrates in your mouth.

It's a very clean jerky, leaving no residue on my fingers and nothing falling onto my lap. It's also very lean, finding no sigificant pieces of fat, tendon, or gristle.




Product Value

Wild Joe's sells this cajun variety from its website at a price of $9.00 for a 3.5 ounce bag, which works out to a price of $2.57 per ounce, putting it in the expensive price range. You can also buy it in an 8 ounce bag for $1.88 per ounce, which gets it down into the average price range

For general jerky snacking purposes, it's a decent value if you consider the higher $2.57 per ounce price. But if you buy the larger quantity at $1.88 per ounce, it's a great buy. The intensity and complexity of flavor, the excellent meat consistency, makes this very snackable and hard to resist eating more.

As a cajun variety, it's got a weaker value, maybe fair at best. It's a got a mild spicy bite to it, but nothing that will have you blowing flames from your mouth. It does, however, have a lot of flavor complexity; I can taste a lot of components in there, but aside from the soy sauce, salt, and meat, what I taste is the garlic & onion. This might actually hold better value as a garlic & onion variety, or as a ramen-flavored jerky.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

Despite my opinion that this doesn't hold up as a cajun variety that well, it still has an excellent flavor to it, and yes I'm someone who loves ramen! The flavor intensity and complexity is largely what pushes this jerky above average. The steak-like chewing experience also helps it along.

What primarily kept me from giving it a higher rating is that I found this too salty. I can accept a salty jerky if it has an exceptional taste. And while this jerky has a very good taste, there just wasn't enough there to make me overlook the saltiness.

I'm not totally sold on this jerky having a cajun style flavor. I'd say it does have some of the qualities, but still not quite there. I didn't ding this jerky for that reason, only because I think it sits on the border of cajun and not-cajun. I keep thinking of foods like jambalaya and andouille, and I can't seem to correlate those tastes with this jerky.

I think a fruity beer might actually be good with this, maybe a cherry lambic.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.wildjoesbeefjerky.com

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Golden Valley Natural - Teriyaki

Do you ever get that sense of deja vu? That's how this Golden Valley Natural brand is starting to feel, mostly because after reviewing several of their varieties, it all keeps tasting the same. While they offer several flavors, the actual flavor variation is minimal from variety to variety. It's largely a tasteless meat, with a fair amount of sugar, a hint of soy sauce, and not much else after that.

The jerky is manufactured by Intermountain Natural, a meat processor in Idaho Falls, ID, that specializes in meat snacks using all natural ingredients, or certified organic ingredients. They private label jerky for natural food stores like Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's. Golden Valley Natural is actually a sister company to Intermountain Natural, both being founded by the same guy, Roger Ball.

So, if all of their jerky is largely just a fair amount of sugar, and a bit of soy sauce, then this teriyaki jerky ought to taste exactly like teriyaki, right?

Ingredients

Beef, sugar, water, soy sauce, pineapple juice powder, apple cider vinegar, salt, flavorings, paprika, smoke flavoring, citric acid.

Taste

The taste I get from the surface of these pieces is a sweetness and a smokiness. Moving into the chew, I can pick up faint traces of soy sauce.

The sweetness seems to provide the dominant taste of this jerky, it's what I continue to taste from start to finish. The trace of soy sauce I taste is something I can only get in the chewing, by sucking out some of the juices. The problem is that the sweetness and the soy sauce is not able to marry together and resemble anything like teriyaki. Even just eating through this like a snack, and not thinking carefully about what I'm eating, I don't get the idea that it's teriyaki.

And like the other varieties from Golden Valley Natural, I taste no amounts of natural meat flavors. I have no clue what kind of meat I'm eating, all I know is that it feels like meat. However, this particular package contained a lot of fatty pieces. That fat seems to give several of these pieces a rather unpleasant taste.

In terms of salt taste, it's very light.

Overall, this jerky tastes nothing like teriyaki and tastes nothing like beef. It just tastes like sugar and smoke.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced average thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

It's a soft and tender jerky, being semi-moist. I found it easy to tear apart, and easy to chew. However, it doesn't necessarily chew like a real steak. It has a softened texture, somewhat gummy but not too bad.

I found LOTS of gristle on these pieces. Just about every piece had streaks of gristle. I tried chewing through a streak, and it was rather rubbery. I ended up nibbling the meat off of the gristle, and setting it aside. Most pieces had bits of fat, a few pieces had large chunks of fat. I don't mind small bits of fat, I actually find it giving the jerky a more "beefier" taste. But larger amounts like the one photoed below make it taste rank.




Product Value

I had acquired this package from Jerky.com, though they no longer sell Golden Valley Natural. But you can buy this from Amazon.com at a price of $38.86 for eight packages of 3.5 ounces each. That works out to a price of $1.38 per ounce, making this an average priced buy.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it's a weak value. It's mainly because of the meat consistency. The copius amounts of gristle felt rubbery in my mouth, or else I found myself nibbling the meat off of it. And the pieces with significant chunks of fat also made the jerky taste foul. All of that ruined its snackability.

As a teriyaki variety, it's a poor value because it tastes nothing like teriyaki at all. If you spent money on this because of its teriyaki advertisement, you won't feel as if you got your money's worth.

Rating

I'm giving this a dog treats rating.

It was largely the poor meat consistency. I can't handle jerky with this amount of gristle, and this level of fat. I mean, I do like small pieces of fat in my jerky, but this amount ruined the taste of this jerky.

Normally, I'd say that this might just be an abberation, and that other packages of Golden Valley Natural - Teriyaki, have better meat consistency. But then again, when you see that every larger piece of meat has this gristle running through it, it makes you wonder.

All the other jerky manufactured by Intermountain Natural has received either fair or average ratings from me. This was the first to get a dog treats rating. The flavor alone would have rated as fair because it didn't live up to its teriyaki billing, and is largely a bland taste. The gristle and fat is what ultimately sent the remaining contents of this package to my dogs.

As for my beer recommendation, anything with lots of flavor, like an IPA.

Rating: Dog Treats

Buy this online:

• Amazon.com

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J.C. Rivers Jerky - Habanero

J.C. Rivers Jerky is a brand that I don't see much of around the Southern California area, even though it's based out of this area. It's owned by Glenoaks Foods, Inc. of Sun Valley. Glenoaks has its own meat processing facility and private labels jerky for other brands like Big Bird Jerky and the Ring of Fire hot sauce line.

I haven't tried many habanero varieties of jerky, mainly because I don't see to much of it around either. I did review one for Oh Boy! Oberto, but found it a disappointment, hardly being hot at all. Considering the habanero pepper is supposedly the most hottest pepper around, or at least right up there with the hottest, I have big expectations for this jerky.

Ingredients

Beef (top round), soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, pineapple juice, water, Tabasco Sauce, habanero pepper, red crushed chili pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, liquid smoke, black pepper, white pepper, ginger powder.

Taste

The taste I get from the surface starts off with a moderate sweetness. Soon after I'm getting a spicy tingling brewing on my tongue. I can also pick up some faint soy sauce flavor. Moving into the chew, I get some natural meat flavors, and some chili pepper taste. I can even pick up the Tabasco Sauce too.

There's definitely a good taste of chili pepper in this jerky, either as a combination of habanero pepper & chili pepper, or one or the other. I also get a slight vinegar taste from the Tabasco Sauce, in fact I think it's the vinegar taste that I largely attribute as the Tabasco.

In terms of being hot, I'd probably rate this as medium on a piece-by-piece basis. However, it continues to build up in strength as I eat more. After several bites, I can see this as being medium-hot. My scalp is tingling and I can feel moisture building up on my forehead. Further into eating this, I have drops of sweat running down the back of my neck.

There's a good deal of sweetness on this jerky, in fact the jerky itself has a slight bit of stickiness to it. If you like sweet & hot jerky, that's basically what this is.

The natural meat flavors are there, but are not very strong. In this case, that's not a big issue for me because there's plenty of flavor to enjoy in the habanero, chili, sweet, and Tabasco Sauce. But considering this is preservative free, it still maintains a fresh taste.

As far as being salty, I don't see this as being all that salty, but there is some saltiness to it, but probably mostly as soy sauce.

In terms of the other ingredients like black pepper, garlic, onion, and ginger, I don't really pick those up. It's probably because the sweet, the chili peppers and Tabasco flavorings are strong enough to dominate this jerky.

Overall, the dominant taste of this jerky is that habanero/red chili pepper taste combined with the Tabasco Sauce taste. I'd give the sweet/honey flavor the second most dominant taste, with the soy sauce taking third.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced average thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is a soft and tender style of jerky, though the meat is more on the dry side. The pieces are very flexible, perhaps due to its layer of sticky sweetness. I was able to tear off smaller pieces with relative ease, and found it easy to chew.

It provides a chewing experience similar to that of a real steak, but not totally. There's still something of a gummy nature to this, but slight.

Even though I said this jerky has a sticky sweetness on the surface, it doesn't necessarily leave my fingers sticky. I still find them dry, so it's still a clean jerky.

But I do find these pieces have a fair amount of fat marbilization, and one particular piece depicted below has more marbilization than others. But I don't see any pieces of tendon or gristle.




Product Value

I paid $3.45 for this 1 ounce package at a Hot Licks store in San Diego, CA. That puts this into the very expensive category. Note that the photos above depict 2 ounces worth. You can also buy it online directly from the J.C. Rivers' website at $1.99, putting it at the border of expensive and average.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it's a decent value. It'd be an excellent value if you pay the $1.99 price. I find it very snackable with its concentration of taste and easy to eat consistency.

As a habanero variety, it presents a good value. It's not quite as hot as the habanero pepper itself, though I imagine it would be hard to eat this jerky if it were. But I think you're getting a strong taste of chili peppers with its concentration of habanero, red chili, and Tabasco flavors. If you can find this any cheaper, you're getting a great value.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

I was pleasantly surprised that I could get a strong chili-peppery taste in this jerky. I found the addition of Tabasco Sauce to give this a very nice vinegar taste. And the good deal of sweet flavor and soy sauce really compliments this well.

And while the natural meat flavors are only there to a smaller degree, you're largely enjoying this jerky for its strong seasonings and marinade. It even tears apart and chews fairly well.

A good beer with this is smooth, creamy stout (to sooth that burning tongue).

Rating: Best

Buy this online:

• http://www.jcrivers.com

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Big Bird Jerky - Ostrich Biltong - Western

There's an ostrich farm just on the outskirts of Escondido, CA, south of where I live, and there's also a number of roadside stands around there selling this brand of Big Bird Jerky. I don't know if the farm is behind the Big Bird brand, however.

The brand is apparently owned by Stehly Ranch and Feeding Co., based out of Chowchilla, CA. A lookup of the company shows that it's a one-man operation. I tried to call him up, but got no answer. The jerky itself is manufactured by Glenoaks Foods, Inc., based out of Sun Valley, CA. Glenoaks owns the J.C. Rivers brand of jerky, and they also make the Ring of Fire brand of jerky that I reviewed earlier.

Interestingly, this package of Big Bird Jerky has the words "Ostrich Biltong" on it. If you read my previous review of Big Bird's teriyaki variety of the same, you'll know that I really didn't find anything about this resembling true biltong, though I'll condition that by saying the lines separating biltong from jerky are blurred. I think however, ostrich is perhaps more associated with biltong than it is with jerky.

Ingredients

Ostrich, water, soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, black pepper, liquid smoke, garlic powder, white pepper.

Taste

The taste I get from the surface of these pieces starts with a slight sweetness, followed by a faint bit of the soy sauce. Moving into the chew, the black pepper comes through first, with some natural meat flavors coming next. Sucking out some of the juices, I can get more soy sauce flavor.

Overall, it's a tasty jerky, with a good concentration of flavor. But I'm not sure I'd call this biltong. This has a very classic jerky taste, nothing that resembles biltong.

Being that this is advertised as a "Western" variety of jerky, it's difficult to determine what exactly it ought to taste like. But as with the "cowboy style" of jerky, it should have an intense flavor, lots of salt, smoke, garlic, pepper, and natural meat flavors. You gotta figure the cowboys and lawmen of the old west era had burnt out their tastebuds from too much tobacco and whiskey. So they need a jerky that offers a ton of taste.

While this jerky is indeed peppery, and has a good deal of soy sauce flavor, it's light on everything else. I'd say the soy sauce is the primary flavor of this jerky, followed by the pepper, and then I'd give the surface sweetness the third most prominent taste.

The natural meat flavors are slight, and being preservative free, it's still a fresh taste. Ostrich tastes pretty much like beef, it's just lower in fat. But still, considering it's ostrich, you'd expect to get a lot of natural meat flavors just so that you can enjoy ostrich. Otherwise, why would anyone buy it? It is indeed lower in fat, but in this 1 ounce package you won't realize much health advantages.

The saltiness is moderate at best. The garlic powder mentioned in the ingredients list is also very slight, I don't really taste much of it, except maybe as part of the soy sauce. I don't even get much smokiness.

Overall, it's another good tasting jerky, nothing bad to report here. But it's another jerky that doesn't really come out and grab my attention. It's mostly a novelty jerky for being ostrich and being labeled as "biltong".

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced average thickness, and in small, medium and large sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky, but one that retains a lot of flexibility. It also requires a bit of effort to tear off a strip, and is somewhat on the chewy side.

It doesn't quite provide a chewing experience like a real steak, but it's not mushy at all. Instead, it gets slightly gummy.

It's for the most part a clean jerky, leaving no residue on my fingers, but it does drop a fair amount of black pepper resulting from the effort exerted in tearing off a strip.

I found no amounts of fat, tendon, or gristle on these pieces.




Product Value

I paid $3.49 for this 1 ounce package at a roadside stand located between Valley Center and Escondido, CA, along Valley Center Pkwy. That makes this a very expensive jerky.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it's a poor value. And that's largely due to its high price. Otherwise, it provides a good taste, and I actually do find it snackable. The meat consistency is ok, though somewhat tough, and somewhat gummy.

For being advertised as biltong, it's a poor value. I don't really see this as biltong, everything here suggests it as classic jerky in both taste and consistency.

Even as a western style of jerky, it's a poor value because I don't quite see this having the "western" or "cowboy style" characteristics that other similarly named jerkies have.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

I actually rated this one notch higher than the brand's teriyaki variety, and that's only because this provides more taste with the black pepper and soy sauce. Aside from that, I think this jerky really misses the mark for being advertised as biltong, and doesn't quite live up to my expectations as a "western style" of jerky. The meat consistency is also not that great.

I could have given it a good rating if it only had more natural meat flavor.

But it's still a tasty jerky for its black pepper and soy sauce, and it's also preservative free if that's important to you. But unless you can find this priced in the low $1.00 range, I wouldn't buy it again.

But if you happen to have some of this jerky, my beer recommendation is a brown ale.

Rating: Average

Where to buy:

• Good luck finding it!

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Umpqua Indian Foods - Teriyaki

I'm sure native americans are pretty good at making beef jerky, since the history of jerky suggests that they were the ones who invented it. I guess actually, they made something slightly different, but still, the concept of drying and salting beef goes way way back.

But this line of jerky from Umpqua Indian Foods has never really excited me. The brand is owned by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians based in Roseburg, OR. For them, jerky sales helps generate revenue for their reservation. I found their other varieties deficient on taste, both on natural meat flavors and on seasonings and marinade. It does have some taste, just not a lot.

I suspect the true pemmican that indians made long ago might actually taste pretty good, with its mixture of berries and herbs. But today, jerky has to please an Americanized palate. So what we have now is a band of indians trying to make something that cowboys would like to eat. Times sure have changed over the past 100 years.

I'm hoping this teriyaki variety from Umpqua Indian Foods will give me a decent taste of teriyaki.

Ingredients

Beef, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, maple sugar cure (salt, cane & maple sugars, dextrose, sodium nitrite), black pepper.

Taste

The taste I get from the surface of these pieces is a slight sweet flavor. Moving into chewing, I can pick up some natural meat flavors, and salt.

I don't find much teriyaki flavor in this. I do pick up very faint resemblances of teriyaki, but it's slight enough that I don't feel it's justified in advertising this as a teriyaki variety. For the most part, I taste the slight sweetness from the surface, and then a saltiness in the meat. That's really it as far as teriyaki is concerned.

The saltiness is not too salty, but is definitely a major taste component. I'd say that it's the dominant taste of this jerky.

The natural meat flavors are noticeable, but like the other varieties from Umpqua Indian Foods, it's a light taste. The taste itself has a mild smooth meat flavor that's actually quite good. It just needs to be in greater concentration to make this jerky more savory.

The black pepper noted in the ingredients is unnoticeable.

Overall, it's a good tasting jerky, it just doesn't taste much like teriyaki. It largely relies on salt for its flavoring, with the natural meat flavors coming in second, and the slight sweetness from the surface coming in as the third strongest taste component.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be strips of whole meat, sliced into widths of about 1/2 to 1 inch, and about 4-5 inches in length.

It's a dry jerky, being somewhat brittle. Any amount of bending will cause the strip to break apart. That's rather contradictory because Umpqua Indian Foods claims that they use only pectoral meat because it makes their jerky more tender and moist. It's actually the opposite.

But being that it's somewhat brittle makes this very easy to break part into bite sized pieces. It's chews rather easily. In fact, once a piece hydrates in my mouth it provides a chewing experience very much like a real steak.

The meat is also very lean, I found no pieces of fat, tendon, or gristle. And it's very clean, leaving no residue on my fingers or pieces of seasoning on my lap.




Product Value

I had acquired this jerky from Jerky.com, But they no longer sell it. You can buy it directly from Umpqua Indian Foods from their website, at a price of $5.25 for a four ounce package. That works out to a price of $1.31 per ounce, making this an average priced buy.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it presents a decent value. Despite what I've written on its taste, it's still a good tasting jerky even though it doesn't taste much like teriyaki. You'll still get a fair amount of natural meat flavors, and an excellent meat consistency. That seems to give it a good deal of snackability.

But as a teriyaki jerky, it's a poor value. If you're looking to spend money to get some good teriyaki beef flavor, you won't find it here.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

For the most part, this teriyaki variety from Umpqua Indian Foods has a good snackability, which always gets a jerky an average rating from me. Aside from that, it doesn't offer much more to give it a higher rating, and it doesn't live up to its teriyaki advertisement.

But it does provide a decent taste of natural meat flavors, but it just doesn't provide enough to satisfy me. If you consider this jerky has no other flavor except for salt and a bit of sweet, it needs a strong meat flavor to carry it. But there really isn't anything strong with this jerky.

I still think indians would do a lot better selling something more along the lines of true pemmican, even if it were as bland as this, I think it would market better.

My beer recommendation with this is something with a lot of flavor, like a hoppy IPA.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://www.umpquaindianfoods.com/

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Fatman's Beef Jerky - Smoky Chipotle, Part 2

A couple of months ago, I wrote a review for Fatman's Beef Jerky - Smoky Chipotle. That particular variety was actually still in its testing phase. Since then the folks at Fatmans have come up with a final recipe and sent me a sample package. So in response, I'm putting out this "Part 2" review.

In that first review, I gave a "good" rating, but mostly on the strength of the jerky's base flavor and meat consistency. I didn't find it all tasting like chipotle. Chipotle is just smoked jalapenos, and has a distinct taste and aroma, which I didn't really find in that jerky.

I'm not exactly sure how this final recipe is different from the earlier test recipe, so it's all still a mystery. But having tried all of Fatman's varieties, I've come to enjoy it for its strong natural meat flavors and fresh taste. The question now, will this final recipe taste any more like chipotle?

Ingredients

Beef, water, soy sauce, liquid smoke, chipotle seasoning, black pepper, salt.

Taste

The first taste I pick up from the surface is a slight salty taste, followed by a good deal of meat aroma. Going into the chew, the natural meat flavors come out more, and I can pick up a faint bit of the soy sauce.

Right off the bat, I'll tell you that I don't really find the unique taste of chipotle. I do, however, get a slight spicy burn in the back of my tongue. In the first review, I did report getting a spicy burn, but I can't honestly remember how intense it was. I called it as mild-medium in that review, and in this second review I call it mild-medium again.

This jerky, however, still has a lot of taste packed into it. It's largely dominated by its natural meat flavors. It's got a strong meat flavor, that I can only compare to the center portion of prime rib, a very "clean" meat taste. And for being without any added preservatives, it's got a fresh taste.

The salty flavor is perhaps the second most dominant component. With some chewing, I can extract some juices and get the soy sauce flavor. While the saltiness is clearly a dominating taste, I still don't find it at the level of "too salty".

The black pepper listed in the ingredients doesn't really make itself known, but perhaps sits in the background with a slight aftertaste.

Overall, this is a jerky for those who like to get a taste of real meat. It also throws in some spicy burn, not much though, and then season it up with some salt and soy sauce.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in small, medium, and large sizes.

It's a dry jerky, being dry enough, and thin enough, that if I were to bend it, it'd start cracking and breaking. In fact, it's brittle enough that it provides some crunchiness when I chew. And that also makes it very easy to break apart into small pieces, and is also easy to chew.

This smoky chipotle variety, like all the other Fatman's varieties, provides a chewing experience like that of a real steak once a piece hydrates in my mouth.

It's also a very clean jerky, leaving no residue on my fingers, only a spattering of black pepper on my shirt. And it's quite lean; I found no pieces of fat, tendon, or gristle.




Product Value

Fatman's sells all of their jerky varieties at a price of $7.99 for a four ounce package. That works out to $2.00 per ounce, putting this on the border between expensive and average.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it's a good value because it's very snackable with its strong meat flavor, and strong flavor overall, plus its excellent meat consistency. I find myself wanting to reach for more and more.

As a smoky chipotle variety, it's a weak value because I still don't find any chipotle taste. I do get a spicy burn in my mouth, but I can't find anything that resembles chipotle.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

Just as in the first review, this jerky is quite good on its own merits with its strong meat flavor, strong seasonings and marinade, and excellent meat consistency. It also throws in some of that spicy burn for those who enjoy feeling a bit of tingling on their scalp.

But I couldn't taste something that told me this had chipotle seasoning on it. That's the only thing that kept me from giving it a best rating. Otherwise, I'd still recommend this to any beef jerky aficionado.

Being that this jerky has a thin, crunchy nature to it, I think it would pair up really well with a can of creamy chipotle dip. This jerky bites off easily enough, that it'd be like eating potato chips, except you have real beef here. Maybe Fatman's could offer up a line of beef jerky dips?

For a good companion beer, I'd recommend something fruity, maybe a Blue Moon Apricot Ale, or a cherry lambic.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.fatmansbeefjerky.com

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Climax Jerky - Hickory Smoked Beef

The folks at Climax Jerky will tell you to "reach your peak" as part of their marketing slogan. The brand, owned by Climax Jerky, LLC, based out of Dillon, CO, got its start in 1998, and is a family run business headed by Brooke Comai.

Climax Jerky got its start selling jerky atop of Fremont Pass, which is officially listed as 11,318 ft above sea level, along the Colorado Rockies. It was named for the Climax Mine. Fremont Pass is apparently well known for bicyclists and other travellers wanting to stop to take a gander across the countryside. The Comai family continue to sell their jerky here, building a reputation for handing out free samples to oxygen-starved tourists.

Interestingly, according to Brooke, their best selling jerky is smoked elk. Men's Journal magazine named it the "best jerky in the country" in their July 2007 edition. I'll definitely be reviewing that later, but for now we have this original beef jerky variety to review here.

Ingredients

Beef, water, salt, brown sugar, spices, soy sauce, flavorings.

Taste

The first taste I get off the surface of these pieces is a smoky, meaty aroma, followed by a slight sweetness, and just a hint of black pepper. Moving into the chew, a salty flavor comes out and a bit of the natural meat flavors.

If I can just summarize it up front, and detail it below, my first sense is that this is definitely a jerky that sits above all of the "garden variety" jerky that you find in the grocery store chains. It has a good deal of flavor consisting of an even mix of seasonings and natural meat flavors.

The natural meat flavors are light, but its taste-aroma helps strengthen its presence. What I mean by aroma is the flavor that your nostrils pick up from inside your mouth, not necessarily from the tongue. The meat flavor is actually quite good, with a smooth mellow taste, but just not a strong one. Being this jerky comes without preservatives, it still has a fresh taste.

The other flavorings in this is largely presented to me as combination of sweet, salt and black pepper. I'd say the salt has the strongest presence, but it's not overly salty at all. The sweet is probably the second strongest on a piece-by-piece basis. However, the black pepper aftertaste eventually drowns out the sweet after several pieces.

The soy sauce listed in the ingredients is not well detected. I can pick up a slight resemblance of it, but only when I look for it. Otherwise it's a flavor that adds to the "ambience" without being noticed on its own.

It's tough to pick a dominant flavor of this jerky. I'd say it's a pretty even mix of salt, black pepper, and natural meat flavors.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be cuts of whole meat, sliced into strips of about 1/4 inch thick and about 2-3 inches long. According to Climax Jerky, this is a "brisket cut".

It's a soft and tender jerky, being easy to bite off, and very easy to chew. It has slight bit of moisture in the meat. The photos below might make this jerky look very moist, but that's largely the oils which may have been drawn out of the meat from the vacuum packaging.

The chewing experience this jerky provides does have a "softened texture" but still seems to resemble eating real steak. On the other hand, I did find a couple of aberrant strips that had a mushy, or crumbly texture.

And these strips are also very lean, I found no pieces of fat, tendon, or gristle. In terms of cleanliness, my fingers do pick up some of that oil, and I find myself rubbing my fingers together to wipe them off.




Product Value

Climax Jerky sells this hickory smoked beef jerky from its website at a price of $8.00 for a four ounce package. That works out to a price of $2.00 per ounce, putting this on the border between expensive and average.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it's a good buy at that price because I do pick up a great deal of snackability. It provides a good volume of flavor, including some natural meat flavors, and isn't too salty. It's also easy to bite off and chew. If priced any lower, I'd call it an excellent value.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

Overall, this hickory smoked beef jerky from Climax provides a great taste-mixture of salt, black pepper and natural meat flavors. There's even some sweetness off the surface and a bit of smokiness too. Then, include the fact it's easy to bite off and chew, and provides a good chewing experience, you've got a jerky that easily sits above many others.

I didn't go so far as to give this a best rating only because nothing really stood out as being exceptional. The natural meat flavors taste good, but is not a strong taste. The seasonings and marinade also taste good, but also don't dominate. This jerky is actually a very good basis for a wide array of other varieties, like maybe a jalapeno, or a sweet & spicy, or a red chile.

So, did I actually reach my peak with this offering from Climax Jerky? Well I'll put it this way, Fremont Pass is indeed pretty high up in elevation, but there are other passes even higher. Still, if I were drive up Fremont Pass in my car or on my motorcycle, and I saw the Climax Jerky folks there, I'd definitely stop to get some jerky.

And if I'm going to stop for some jerky, I may as well have a beer while I'm at it. How about a brown ale with this one?

NOTE: I couldn't find a nutrition facts label for this jerky.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.climaxjerky.com

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Wild Joe's Beef Jerky - Natural

Wild Joe's Beef Jerky is a brand of Wild Joe's, Inc., based out of Cincinnati, OH. The brand has been on the market since 1990.

It's a family run business headed by Joe Lachenman who oversees the marinades and seals the packages. His wife does the marketing. Joe previously operated some butcher shops in Northern Kentucky when he decided to sell them off and make a business out of his newest love, jerky.

The Wild Joe brand has seemingly built itself around its logo, a cartoonish scruffy-looking old man with round spectacles and a beard, resembling something like a cross between Benjamin Franklin and Colonel Sanders. The brand focuses on thin sliced jerky, free of preservatives. Since it's start in 1990, the company has done pretty well, with its products sold in some 1,000 stores across the USA.

Ingredients

Beef, water, soy sauce, salt, smoke flavoring, garlic powder, black pepper.

Taste

The predominant taste I pick up off the surface is a soy-sauce flavor. With some chewing, I can pick up the natural meat flavors, and more of the soy sauce, while the saltiness gains in strength.

The soy sauce flavor is very prevalent in this jerky, I'd say it dominates the overall taste. And with a strong soy sauce flavor, you tend to get a lot of salty flavor too. After eating through two of these 0.8oz bags, I do feel a salt scorching on my tongue.

The natural meat flavors probably have the second-most dominant taste. It's not a strong flavor, but it's clearly discernable, and provides me with enough taste to provide that enjoyment of eating beef. It may be somewhat masked by the stronger soy sauce flavor. For being free of preservatives, I didn't find any kind of stale taste.

While the ingredients list goes on to name smoke flavoring, garlic powder, and black pepper, I don't really pick up much from them, except just subtle hints. I can tell there's some garlic and black pepper in this from the aftertaste, but it's not a strong aftertaste. I'm not sure I pick up any of the smoke flavoring, but then again it may be masked by the soy sauce.

Overall, this natural variety from Wild Joe's provides a great dose of flavor in each bite, mostly as soy sauce, salt and natural meat flavors.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in small, medium, and large pieces.

It's a dry jerky that still retains some flexibility, but will crack and break if bent far enough. Because of its thin, dry nature, you can tear off pieces pretty easily, and it seems to chew fairly easily too. Once a piece hydrates in my mouth, it provide a chewing experience similar to a real steak.

I also found the pieces to be rather clean; I didn't get residue on my fingers.

One of the pieces had a decent amount of fat marbilization, while the others look to be pretty lean. I found no other connective tissues in the form of tendon or gristle.




Product Value

Wild Joe's sells this natural variety from its website at a price of $9.00 for a 3.5 ounce bag, which works out to a price of $2.57 per ounce, putting it in the expensive price range. You can also buy it in an 8 ounce bag for $1.88 per ounce, which gets it down into the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, this provides a fair value if you consider the high $2.57 price per ounce. It gives off a good snackability with its strong taste, and great meat consistency. If you consider the lower $1.88 per ounce price at the higher quantity, I'd give it a decent value for general jerky purposes.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

For being the company's plain variety, this offering from Wild Joe's offers a lot of taste in the form of soy sauce, salt, and natural meat flavors. Combined with its ease in tearing and chewing, it provides a great snackability. But beyond that, I didn't find much else to warrant a higher rating.

I would normally give a higher rating for providing a strong natural meat flavor, but this only provided a fair amount, second to the more dominant soy sauce flavor. I also found this to be quite salty after eating through several pieces, but on a piece-by-piece basis I don't find it to be all that intense.

Overall however, it still does its job well as a snack food, though you'll likely want something to drink to rehydrate your salted tongue.

And my recommendation for rehydration would be a light-tasting beer, like a honey blonde ale.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://www.wildjoesbeefjerky.com

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Golden Valley Natural - Buffalo Jerky - Teriyaki

Is there not enough teriyaki jerky in this world?

The proliferation of snacks that combine both sweet & salty flavors the past decade have made teriyaki a name that no meat snacker can hide from. I personally love teriyaki, but found so much teriyaki jerky to miss the mark on true teriyaki taste. It seems most of it is just soy sauce mixed with sugar without regards to the ginger and sake components. It largely comes out tasting sweet on the surface, and just a hint of soy sauce inside the meat.

So this variety of teriyaki buffalo jerky from Golden Valley Natural tends inspire doubt in my mind that it might be different. Golden Valley Natural is a sister company of Intermountain Natural, LLC, the company that actually makes this jerky, as well as jerky for many other "natural food" stores like Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods Market. Golden Valley Natural is sold through several online jerky retailers.

This jerky goes on to claim that it's free of added hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, no added MSG, or artificial ingredients.

Ingredients

Buffalo, sugar, water, soy sauce, pineapple juice concentrate, apple cider vinegar, salt, flavorings, paprika, smoke flavoring, citric acid.

Taste

The first taste I get from the surface of these pieces is a sweet flavor followed by a bit of smokiness. When I chew down, I get more sweetness, and maybe just a slight bit of salty taste.

That sweet flavor is not particularly heavy, but still strong enough to dominate the overall flavor of this jerky. I don't taste any of the natural meat flavors, however, which is something I've found consistent with Intermountain Natural. But despite this jerky having no preservatives, it still has a fresh taste.

In fact, I don't really taste any teriyaki either. I'm not sure that it's even correct to call this teriyaki because I don't even taste the soy sauce. It's perhaps only correct to call this sweet.

Otherwise what we have here is largely a sweet jerky, that's moderately sweet, with a bit of smoky flavor, followed by a slight salt flavor. No meat flavor, no teriyaki flavor, and nothing else to taste.

Meat Consistency

This appears to be slices of whole meat, sliced average thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

It's largely a soft and tender jerky, being semi-moist. Some pieces were bit drier than others. It's easy to tear apart, and easy to chew.

It doesn't really chew like a real steak, however. As I chew this, it's clear that this meat went through a tenderization process, and left it with a soft, slightly mushy, texture.

I didn't find any bits of fat, but I did find some pieces that had significant amounts of gristle (see close up photo below). It still chewed easily, however.




Product Value

I acquired this jerky from Jerky.com, which doesn't sell it anymore. But you can buy this from Amazon.com at a price of $38.86 for eight packages of 3.5 ounces each. That works out to a price of $1.38 per ounce, making this an average priced buy.

For that price it has a fair value, in terms of general jerky snacking purposes. It will give you a decent taste, and provide some snackability, but it won't really inspire you to buy this again.

As a teriyaki variety, you're not getting your money's worth, because I don't find any teriyaki taste in this. This is mostly just a sweet jerky.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

While it has some snackability, it doesn't provide a lot. That really hurts this jerky's rating because I do put a lot of weight on snackability. What also hurt it is that it does not live up to its billing as a teriyaki jerky. And then it's bland, providing mostly a sweet flavor, and not much else, not even natural meat flavors.

But I did not go so low as to assign this a dog treats rating because I found that I could still eat this without flinching or grimacing.

It may suffice to eat this while concentrating on something else, like driving, or chatting with a friend. Otherwise, it has few merits of its own to appreciate. Though, being free of preservatives, nitrite, and MSG, and still being priced relatively low (from Amazon.com), may cause low-carb/low-fat dieters to give this a closer look.

For a recommended beer variety, I'd accompany this with an IPA.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• Amazon.com

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