Jerky & Beer Pairings
Page 4: Tasting Notes ~ Part 2
Here, we taste some hot stuff—habanero and chipotle jerky—along with sweet teriyaki and brown sugar/honey. This is Page 3 of a four-page article. Click on the black links below to visit other pages.
The Jerky Contenders, Continued
House of Jerky’s Hot Beef With
Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale & Stumptown Costa Rican Coffee
 This was one of the final samples of the night. Heavy with meat and beer, we decided to brew some coffee in a Japanese siphon that a friend had brought. The siphon method makes the coffee cleaner, with similar results but less sediment than using a French press. The real surprise came when it was the only thing that could cool the fire of intense cayenne pepper and habaneros that come with the territory of Hot Beef Jerky. Once the heat subsided, barbecue and cayenne flavors flushed forward and the coffee aromas were heightened due to our cleared sinuses. At that point were able to enjoy the Red Rocket, a fiery red ale from Bear Republic Brewery located in Cloverdale, California.
- 4-Ounce Package
$10.50
 Other Sizes Available
- HouseOfJerky.net
Jedidiah’s Habanero Chipotle
With De Dolle Brouwer’s Special Extra
Export Stout
Not as fiery as the House of Jerky scorcher above, Jedidiah’s hottest offering had pleasant flavors of chipotle with a nice balance to boot. It was slightly chewy, but had a velvety finish. The heat brought out flavors of green apples in the dark brown Belgian stout we paired with it.
- Two 3.5-Ounce Packages
$17.98
- JedsJerky.com
Tillamook Country Smoker’s Teriyaki Beef With
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
With a handful of tasters hailing from the Northwest, there were memories of driving  to the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Oregon and loading up on the Teriyaki Beef Jerky. While the style has changed a bit from those days, with texture feeling more like a pressed reincarnation of the formerly chewy composite, the nostalgia remained when intense flavors of ginger punched us right in the mouth. The Torpedo Extra IPA from Sierra Nevada of Chico, California—bold, assertive and full of complex citrus, pine and herbal flavors—also reminded of us of cold, windy days drinking on the beaches of the West Coast, while eating the coveted staples that we had picked up along the way.
- 8-Ounce Bag
$5.99
- TillamookCountrySmoker.com
 Tillamook Country Smoker’s Brown Sugar and Honey With
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
This was a pleasant variety that none of us had tried before. Sweet brown sugar mingled with smoke to create a delectable array of flavors. Washing it down with the IPA again was the way to go.
- 8-Ounce Bag
$4.19
- TillamookCountrySmoker.com
 The Panel’s Favorites
House of Jerky was the obvious crowd pleaser across the board; it was only a matter of which style would be our favorite. The more exotic varieties seemed to pique everyone’s curiosity originally and ended up leaving the most indelible impressions at the evening’s conclusion.
We had a vote as to which was best: the ostrich, buffalo or venison. And while the pairing of the ostrich and the Raison d’Etre Belgian Dark Ale from Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales was the hands-down best match, the venison prevailed as the overall favorite jerky.
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