Beefy Jerky Roundup

First of all, please give us lots and lots of credit for not including the word "off" in the title of this post.

Second, let's thank the good folks at A Couple o' Jerks for sponsoring this review with $8 worth of dehydrated meat.

Third, let's get started. After over 50 posts and about 8 months of doing this blogging thing, this will be our first tandem post.

John: When the Twitter conversation arrived on my feed, little did I know I'd be in for such a mouthwatering experience. The guys over at A Couple o' Jerks were so quick to get their meat out the door that it was at my house within 3 days of the first tweet. That tells me they stand by their product and give a crap about what they are doing. Also, Customer Service like what they've shown always makes the end product taste better (It also helps that their Meat Factory is based here in St. Louis). I think this is why I am still on the fence about Steak n Shake over the last 20 years. I've had some bad customer service experiences there and I am still not sure if their food really does it for me.

I ordered the Original/Spicy version. I figured that the original would be the baseline for how they go about doing their Jerky. Kind of like Fajitas to a Mexican Restaurant or Gen Tso's chicken to a Chinese place. When the package arrived I was immediately drawn to the colorful wrapping but didn't take too much time to admire it because I wanted to whet my whistle.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="275" caption="Spicy Goodness"][/caption]

The flavor was great. It had a good kick to it. Not overly spicy but just enough that I am glad I had some water close by. One thing about the texture of the jerky really stood out. It was actually real dehydrated meat. I have had other jerkys in the past where the meat was almost smooth and seemed to be covered by some thin shiny layer of something. You can really tell this is the real deal.

After I had taken the initial piece out I did notice that I should keep it refridgerated and eat withing 3 days. This was not going to be an issue and the rest of my delicious goodie bag was gone at lunch the next day.

I was so inspired by this Beef Jerky that it questioned me to write about a fight between Beef Jerky & Bacon. I feel weird rating this beef jerky on our sandwich scale but think instead that this beef jerky should be imortalized on its own sandwich. It can be used in the same application as bacon, but feel there are limitless possibilities in this area.

Jamie: I agree it was good, and indeed some of the better jerky I've ever had. I got the same flavor (our coordination skills still leave something to be desired) because I wanted to know how hot was hot (and also I wasn't gonna review anything tagged as "Wimpy").

I actually thought the spice was really, really good. Not too salty, not too hot, and plenty of actual flavor. I really hate stuff that is hot just for the sake of being hot. Most chicken wing places get that wrong. I'm not in a tough guy competition with myself. I like spice, but I'd rather not chap my lips and put my tongue up on blocks for two days just to feel manlier.

Being totally dedicated to my craft, though, I made sure to have three other adults sample the bag. They each took one piece, said it was good but too spicy for them, and then ate the rest of the bag throughout the course of the evening.

To my esteemed colleagues point about texture, I agree that it was refreshing to not have something sausagey or slimy - that isn't true beef jerky. That said, I do prefer my jerky a little jerkier. Eating a whole bag (minus three pieces) didn't even wear my jaw out.

Both in Harmony: We really dig this Beefy Jerky. The guys that run the place are awesome and their end product is delicious. Can we have a tour of the Jerky mill? We will bring the beer.