Jack Link's Flamin' Hot Jerky

I didn't realise Frito Lay owned Jack Links! No wonder they have these weird Doritos flavors. Anyway, this IS hot, it's got a tingly afterburn but otherwise tastes like normal jerky. I'd rather have normal or teriyaki (or sweet and hot) flavors, I think, since the heat kind of hides the meat. Luckily it's just "hot" and not "dorito" or "cheese" or "corn chip" or anything gross like that. As always, this is crazy expensive for what you get, but it is a nice snack (for rich kids!!!). 

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10

Jack Link's Beef Tender Bites - Teriyaki

I thought I was buying regular old beef jerky, but I accidentally bought these "tender bites" instead! They seem like they'd be a weird texture, but actually they just taste like regular old beef jerky, in a more conveniently consistent piece-size. Not too bad. I would unaccidentally buy these in the future.

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 6/10

Jack Link's Teriyaki Beef Jerky

Turns out my grocery store sucks, so I'm still buying a lot of stuff online. Endless quarantine life, baby (except that I have to teach in person). The little bags are pretty convenient protein, and decently filling for only 70 cals. The flavor is a little bit like beef teritaki, which is good, but the texture was pretty unappealing - kind of soft and mealy. The sodium and sugar stats are also not great, so maybe it's for the best I don't buy these too often.

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 6/10

Jack Link's Original Beef Jerky

Aww, look at these cute little jerky bags. I must say, these taste very similar to the Teriyaki flavor. I guess that's beef + soy sauce for you. Maybe these were a little more enjoyable because I knew what I was in for, having eaten them second of the two flavors. I still wish the tiny little pieces were bigger though, even in a mini bag. 

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 6/10

Country Archer Beef Jerky - Mango Habanero

Mmm, OK! So, the positives: the packaging doesn't say anything sexist about manbuns this time, which is great. It's also only ~160 calories for a filling feeling meaty snack. I also enjoyed the flavor waaay more than the other one I tried. This one was spicy but not too spicy, and a tiny bit sweet but not at all in a gross or bad way. I mostly tasted spice with a wee bit of mango and beef. That was nice.

The negative here is the texture. It's so mealy and chewy and hard all at once somehow. This is definitely the worst texture of jerky I've had. I wish it were either softer/MORE chewy, or firmer/MORE crunchy. but it's truly the worst of both worlds, texture-wise. The bag also doesn't reseal, but it's not very big so that's OK. So I didn't hate it, but i wouldn't get it again because of the texture (unless it was SUPER cheap I guess).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Country Archer Turkey Jerky - Hickory Smoke

I really like jerky in general because it's high protein, low calorie, low effort. But even though I was excited, this was not good. Firstly, the bag says something like "real men don't have buns", which I guess is supposed to be a cute and funny joke, but it just seemed judgy and sexist, so that wasn't a great start.

Totally separate from that though, the taste was not good. The texture was really firm and chewy, in a bad way, but it IS jerky, so fair enough, that's to be expected. It seemed dry looking on the outside, not like the picture, but it was months from expiring, so I'm not sure why. The taste is vaguely teriyaki/soy flavor, a little sweet, and a lot umami, but again not in a good way. It was just a little too much like eating an old shoe.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 4/10

Jack Link's Sweet & Hot Beef Jerky

As was pointed out to me, this is some salty jerky. I mean, all jerky is salty. But dang.

Anyway, other than that, this is decent. Not too fatty or whatever. And it tastes good. I thought "hmm, sweet and hot? sounds bad!" but it ISN'T bad. It's a nice meat flavor, definitely not sweet in a weird way. Not too hot either, unless I don't have any water and I'm stuck in class and it's like "oh man, this is hot after all; it burns; it burns."

Anyway this was on sale so I'm happy with it.



Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10