Happy New year! The holiday season has netted me a “box” full of jerky to review. The first on the list is Settlers Whiskey BBQ Beef Jerky. Hailing from Walnut CA and formally known as Anderson Valley Jerky this is a slab style Jerky that is packaged in a clear side gold foil zip lock resealable bag. Founded by Joe Anderson in 1977, Settlers Jerky is still run by the same family who also co-pack Jerky for over 60 distributors.
One of the Settler’s distributors, Gregory Nemitz was mentioned in a CNN article that his jerky “has traveled to the space stations four times for astronauts who crave the stuff”. With that endorsement, expectation can be quite high. When you reach in the bag you will find a few very large pieces of jerky that require tearing before you consume your first bite. The first thing that stands out is the tacky surface of the meat.
This is Whiskey BBQ flavor and the applied sauce is thick. As you bite you will find this is not a very tender piece of meat, in fact its a little tough and chewy. On the upside, the BBQ flavor is quite sweet with a slightly peppery base. The other noticeable flavor is the added liquid smoke. The ingredients include bourbon whiskey but unfortunately, there is little in the way of detectable bourbon flavor. The adhesive label lists the ingredients but no nutritional information so it’s tough to report the details.
Overall I found this flavor to be fairly average but I’d like to try some of their more natural flavors. Right now, It looks like the company may be in a little flux as the website is 404 and their facebook has little news other than “we’re hiring”. My guess is from reading the CNN story they focus on the wholesale side of their business. (The CNN article that is a good marketing primer if you decide you want to get into the beef jerky business.)
For this flavor, the rating is as follows Flavor=2, Chew=2, Heat=0, Sodium=??, Value=3, Overall 2.5. Want to give it a try? Visit Beefjerky.com that website is their official “store” and is online.