Co-owners Chase Schaffter and Danny Kueser met while working at Cinder Block Brewery. Danny was a bartender and brewers assistant, and Chase owned a food truck that served BBQ to the patrons of the brewery. So, this naturally lead them to try to cook anything and everything with beer. One day, Danny and Chase decided to make beef jerky out of a new batch of beer that Danny brewed at the Cinder Block brewery.
The first batch was absolutely horrible. However, they don’t give up easily. So they started to get together regularly to make beef jerky. After a while, they decided that it would be fun to package it so they could share it with other people. The Craft Beer Jerky brand was launched in 2017. Craft Beer Jerky is distributed by Craft Beer Jerky LLC, and they are located in Kansas City, Kansas.
The next review on Craft Beer Jerky will focus on a 2 ounce/56 gram bag of their Wheat Beer flavored beef sticks. These beef sticks were kindly submitted for review by Co-Founder, Chase Schaffter.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Wheat Beer, Sugar, Orange Juice Concentrate, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt, Sodium Benzoate), Worcestershire Sauce (Distilled Vinegar, Molasses, Corn Syrup, Water, Salt, Polysorbate 80, Sugar, Spices, Anchovy Puree, Natural Flavor), Onion Powder, Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Paprika, Sodium Nitrite. Allergen Warnings: Soy, Wheat, Anchovies
The beef used is guaranteed to have been raised ethically, meaning not administered growth hormones or additional antibiotics. This beef is also guaranteed to have at least partial free range to roam about as nature intended. As a result, the highest ingredient rating possible is Very Good (9/10).
The liquid marinade consists of the craft wheat beer, a poor brand of Worcestershire sauce, orange juice concentrate, and an average soy sauce. A rating is lost because the emulsifier polysorbate 80 is used in the Worcestershire sauce that bind ingredients together. Polysorbate 80 is not considered to be healthy.
There are some healthy ingredients added such as onion powder, black pepper, and paprika.
There is no nutrition facts table provided. As a result, the sugar and salt levels are unknown.
This jerky is not sodium nitrite free, as sodium nitrite is used outright to lose a rating. Admirably, this jerky has no MSG added.
Decent (7/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
Written by guest jerky reviewer Paul Rekker
There are 2 meat sticks in the package. When I open the bag, I smell nothing as I pull out one of the meat sticks. It is both soft and moist, and it leaves some oily residue on your fingers.
As I eat more and more of the beef stick, I am completely underwhelmed. I don’t really taste any salt or pepper, as well as no garlic or onion. But that is not the biggest issue I am having. It is advertised as a ‘wheat beer’ stick, with Scottish ale as the second listed ingredient. I have drank copious amounts of beer, along with much ale, along with a fair share of anything Scottish, but I am tasting none of that here. All I am tasting is a nondescript, rather bland meat stick.
The most prevalent flavor that is saturating this meat stick is syrup. This meat stick is way too sweet, and is missing on all the ingredients that tasty meat sticks contain, including the advertised “beer”, along with other very important ingredients such as salt, pepper and garlic.
Sorry jerky brothers, I feel I may be alone on this one, but I cannot justify any higher than a 6/10, although my review reads more like a 5, maybe even a 4/10. Over to you guys.
Here is what Mark has to say about this wheat beer flavored beef stick from Craft Beer Jerky: “Regretfully, the Group of Seven was not included in this review due to vacation. Paul and I could not be at more odds. This flavor is delicious, and the wheat beer flavor comes across quite nicely. If the salt, black pepper, or garlic were at stronger levels, it would not come across as a beer flavored jerky.
In my opinion, the sweetness was not overpowering as experienced with Paul. In fact this wheat beer beef stick is addictive, and tastes like more, where I could not get enough. The syrupy taste that Paul experienced was the beer flavor, accompanied with a nice blend of Worcestershire/Soy sauce, finishing with a juicy flavor from orange juice concentrate. There is a certain desirably sourly aspect to the overall flavor. With myself at an Excellent (10/10) taste rating, we will split the difference, and award a Decent (7/10) taste rating.”
Two 2 ounce/57 gram bags of beef sticks sells online for $6.00. That works out to $1.50 an ounce, which rates as a cheap price.
Bag Review
This plastic bag has a label affixed to the front. The Craft Beer Jerky logo has antlers coming off hops.
There are no slogans or facts printed on this bag.
Missing bag categories are soy/wheat/anchovy allergen alerts, a nutrition facts table, a blurb printed about Craft Beer Jerky or this wheat beer flavor, and a best before date. There is a batch number displayed that could translate to a best before date.
Order their jerky online: www.craftbeerjerky.com
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