Today, I am reviewing one of the new flavors of Perky Jerky
- Sweet & Spicy. It comes in both the Beef and Turkey varieties. This is
the first review I've written in almost two years. I took some time to focus on
getting a job, and now that I've had one for a little over a year now I haven't
had much time to do reviews. I am trying to get back to doing some more reviews
on new products I find. Forgive me for being out of the blogosphere for a
while. Back to the more important stuff - The review of Perky Jerky Sweet &
Spicy!
Package
Both packages are an almost metallic, shiny deep-orange on
the borders. The logo colors for Beef and Turkey are consistent with the brand
colors. Can I just say I really like their depictions of the animals the meat
comes from on the labels? I like the glowing minimalist outlines. It's just
cool. On the bottom left corner you'll see a little circle indicating that it's
been inspected (and passed) by the Dept. of Agriculture. On the back you'll find the usual Nutrition Facts and
Ingredients section, and a little notation to indicate for allergies that it
contains soy. You'll also find the description of the flavor. My favorite part
about it is the tagline at the bottom that says: "If you are holding this,
you are one of the lucky ones." It just makes you feel good.
Taste
The flavor, for both the Beef Perky Jerky Sweet & Spicy
and the Turkey Perky Jerky Sweet & Spicy, starts out sweet, then becomes a
little bit warmer the longer you chew it. The meat is marinates in a jalapeno
mixture overnight, which is where some of the heat comes in. The rest, it
seems, comes from the cracked black peppercorns. While I'm not a fan of the
peppercorns, I can tolerate it because it's Perky Jerky, and I really enjoy
Perky Jerky! I just don't like black pepper in any shape or form. I couldn't
really taste the jalapeno flavor, but I could definitely feel the jalapeno
heat. To me, different hot things produce different heat when eaten. I'm a
little sensitive to hot flavors, but this wasn't enough to make me not want to
eat it. It was just the right amount of heat that it enhanced the flavors,
instead of overwhelming them.
In specifics, I could not really tell that I was eating turkey
with the Turkey Perky Jerky (I'm just going to keep writing that out, so you
have to keep reading the rhyming awesomeness). Yes, the texture was a little
different than the Beef Perky Jerky. The Turkey Perky Jerky was not quite as
soft, and was more chewy, or jerk-ey than the Beef Perky Jerky, which wasn't a
bad thing. It was just a difference in how the meats dry. The flavor is just as
delicious as the Beef Perky Jerky. The Beef Perky Jerky seems to need a little
less oomph to bite off a piece, but still just as chewy as you would want jerky
to be. In terms of texture and chewy-ness they're both exactly what you would
want in a jerky.
Energy
I am definitely more
perky after eating Perky Jerky! Although I can't sit and consume a whole bag of
it at once, as is the serving suggestion. However, one bite in the evening kept
me awake until almost 1am. If you did eat one bag at a time, it would
definitely give you the energy that you need to do whatever.
Ingredients
This is something
I've talked about in a separate section before. However I did want to go over
some of the ingredients they have, and some they don't, in Perky Jerky.
Perky Jerky does not contain Gluten, Preservatives,
Nitrates, or any extra MSG outside of what is in the soy sauce. To me, this
makes it superior to all the other jerky brands out there that include those
things just to make a fast buck because it's cheaper to add ingredients than to
work on a quality product that doesn't have them.
One thing it does have, that I've already stated that I'm
not a huge fan of, but can overlook, is black pepper. I suppose it might be
integral to the flavor of Perky Jerky. However, I could do without it, or at least
in smaller doses. Personally, I dislike biting down on a black peppercorn and
having my mouth flooded with the flavor and heat. I tried to pick the cracked
peppercorns off the outside of the jerky before I would eat it. However, I also
know people who enjoy black peppercorn, and would probably love having the
little bits of pepper clinging to their jerky.
Overall Impression
Perky Jerky, in general, is one of the best jerky's on the
market. Their flavors are solid, they perform well energy-wise. As far as I
know, they're the only energy jerky out there (maybe I haven't Googled enough
to know otherwise?). So they have their corner of the jerky market, and I think
that corner is getting larger every day. Jerk Man obviously helps with the
brand awareness giving jerky to people in select cities they go to. Perky Jerky
is just plain good. The fact they also donate some of their proceeds to support
Muscular Dystrophy and Down Syndrome Research is also cool. Back to my point: Sweet
& Spicy is a great flavor that provides solid energy. Another WIN for Perky
Jerky!
Find them on the Online
Website: http://www.perkyjerky.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/perkyjerky
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/perkyjerky
