Over a year and a half ago, Uncle Andy’s Jerky shut down production to search for a better way to fulfill Andy’s vision of rapid innovation. As of May 1, 2018, Uncle Andy’s Jerky launched a Kickstarter campaign to reach Andy’s goal of making the most flavorful small batch jerky in the market. Everybody is encouraged to support Uncle Andy’s Jerky Kickstarter campaign, which ends on May 31/2018, and offers jerky rewards. The next review on Uncle Andy’s Jerky will focus on a 1 ounce/28 gram bag of their Chocolate Stout Mole flavored turkey jerky, which may not be a finalized product yet. Chocolate stout is a type of craft beer, and mole sauce is originally a Mexican sauce that uses chocolate and hot chili peppers. This jerky bag was kindly submitted for review by the owner, Andy Hanenberg.
Uncle Andy’s Jerky is distributed under the same name of Uncle Andy’s Jerky, and it is located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The vision for Uncle Andy’s Jerky was born in the fall of 2012 with Andy starting to make homemade jerky. Inspired by the craft beer industry, Uncle Andy’s Jerky continued to experiment and evolve. Andy’s goal today is to adopt a 3 tier model with core flavors sold year round, seasonal flavors, and small batch limited run flavors. While their jerky flavors are still in development, the plan is to release a new flavor each month with it only being available for 2 months. Recently, Uncle Andy’s Jerky found an opportunity to share space with a small USDA processing facility, which will allow them to produce Uncle Andy’s Jerky themselves, and help achieve their vision of rapid innovation.
Get your jerky rewards now from Andy’s Kickstarter campaign before it ends on May 31.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Turkey, Beer (Stout), Brown Sugar, Salt, Spices, Chili, Cocoa Nibs, Paprika, Cumin, Black Pepper, Oregano, Citric Acid.
On the whole, turkey is a leaner and healthier choice of meat compared to using beef. Turkeys raised in the US are not allowed to receive growth hormones. There is no guarantee that the turkey have free range access to roam about. As a result, the highest ingredient rating possible is Very Good (9/10).
The liquid marinade used here consists of only a local Colorado craft chocolate stout beer.
There are some healthy ingredients added such as spices, paprika, cumin, black pepper, and oregano.
Cocoa nibs often make superfood lists. They contain lots of antioxidant, are full of minerals, and offers other health benefits.
The heat is achieved from the chili peppers. Hot peppers are healthy if eaten in moderation, which flush toxins out of the body.
There is no nutrition facts table provided. As a result, the exact sugar and salt levels are unknown.
This jerky qualifies to have no sodium nitrite, or any other similar unhealthy preservative. Instead, sea salt is the main preservative used. Citric acid also acts as a preservative to a lesser extent. With more kudos to Uncle Andy’s Jerky, this jerky has no MSG added.
Very Good (9/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
Written by guest jerky reviewer Stéphane Leclerc
Mark did his homework and found the following information regarding the Chocolate Stout and Mole.
The Chocolate stout is a type of craft beer, it is a stout beer known for its bitterness. The Mole sauce is a traditional Mexican sauce incorporating chocolate and chili peppers amongst approximately twenty other ingredients. A mole sauce is a staple in Mexican cuisine and two common ingredients are chocolate and chili peppers with a sprinkle of cumin, oregano and paprika to name just a few. Although, the chocolate flavor in a mole should not dominate the flavor, it should offset some of the heat.
The aroma of this Uncle Andy’s Jerky Chocolate Stout Mole Turkey Jerky is fine; I could pick up on the spiciness, the stout and a light herbal aroma.
The taste is a moderately strong bitterness from the chocolate stout beer and chocolate nibs. There is a light level of cumin, oregano and the paprika at a lesser extent. The saltiness is at a fairly high level and the black pepper is very light.
The chocolate flavor is barely noticeable with perhaps a light nuance in the background. The spiciness is certainly more noticeable while the chocolate is not doing much to offset the heat. The heat level is not overly strong at around 2/5 on the heat scale. There is a light sweetness present and it also does not do much to balance the other flavors. We all noticed a flagrant lack of natural turkey flavor in this jerky.
These strips of jerky are medium to small in size and sliced thin. The jerky is soft and dry, it takes little effort to chew and it leaves no oily residue on the fingers.
This flavor is an unusual creation and most people in Canada and the US are probably not really familiar with a mole sauce. It does appear to be getting more momentum in recent years.
While this Uncle Andy’s Jerky Chocolate Stout Mole Turkey Jerky is not bad, it does feel unfinished and not well balanced. It is not refined or has much depth of flavor. The chocolate flavor should be accentuated and more sweetness should be added to better balance the bitterness and the heat in this product. This jerky would probably also benefit from a little tanginess to make this flavor more fun and memorable.
This flavor is still in its testing phase and it is not necessarily a finished product as of yet. As there is definitely room from improvement, we’ve awarded this jerky an Average 5/10 tastes rating.
A 2 ounce/58 gram bag of jerky would sell online for $6.99, which works out to $3.50 an ounce. That would rate as an expensive price.
Bag Review
Note that this is just a sampler bag, where the real production bag would be different.
This clear resealable bag has a label affixed to the front, and nothing on the back. With this Chocolate Stout Mole flavor being part of Uncle Andy’s Jerky beer series of flavors, there are some mugs of beer displayed on the label.
There are no slogans printed on this bag. Some facts printed on this bag are “Sample”, “Beer Series”, and “Made in the USA”.
Some bag categories missing are a best before date, a nutrition facts table, a USDA inspected logo, distributor address details, bar code, and no blurb printed about Uncle Andy’s Jerky.
Check out their web site: www.uncle-andys-jerky.com
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