Lightning Rods beef stick

With all the caffeinated drinks I have had in the past year, even my beef stick is caffeinated, guarana laced and tastes like ginseng.
Combining the best of road trip foods, Buffalo Bill has created a frankenstein of delicious regular beef jerky and a nicely boosted caffeine supplement - where you can get your protein snack and your energy boost in one snack. Lightning Rods are little 5 inch beef jerky sticks made from US cows, filled with the good stuff, and then dipped in preservatives, like all good convenience store beef jerkys are. After seeing the cool package, I want to like these - to really really like these.

Taste:6
Now I am one of those people who go out and hunt down those little jerky shacks on the side of the road in little mountain towns. I have even been known to take long trips through little winding canyons for no other reason than to get the perfect dried treat. I have eaten Honeyed Buffalo strips, peppered rattlesnake jerky, and even tried my hand once or twice making a natural smoked Duck jerky. Long have I scorned the artificiality or Slim Jims and Jack Links, while secretly stashing away a pack or two of teryaki. So needless to say, I love my jerky.

That being said, I really thought this Beef Stick would be tastier. Not that Lightning Rods were bad, they just did not taste very good. I guess I was expecting something which did not taste like ginseng - but something with a strong smoked meat flavor. The meat had a definite sour tang to it - but was afraid it was just me. I gave away a number of my samples to other people to taste ( all big jerky lovers) and while none hated it, none were in love with it either.
I guess I wanted something powerful and strongly meat flavored, and instead I got sweet meat - with over 3 grams of sugar per stick - it tasted more fruity than smoked. The texture was not bad - more like a link than a real chunk of jerky - with little pieces of beef and processed-meat-filling forming a little chewy tube. While you could never compare this to a real chunk of smoked animal muscle, it is comparable to most all beef chews out there.

Packaging:8
No nutrition label - the little meat package was too small to give you anything but the ingredients list and a couple facts.The overall look of diamond plate with a very angry looking bull looks pretty awesome. While there is no listing of the caffeine, you definitely get the idea that these sticks mean some serious business.

Nutrition/Buzz:7
So a couple of these could be a real meal. There are 100 calories in here, only suprising because of the size of the jerky. On top of that is the high fat count (10% of your us rda) and 13% of your sodium intake. So healthy snacks these are not. This is about the same intake as a Slim Jim, only Slim Jims have twice as much protein but lack any buzz at all.

Buzz - the real reason these Rods... stick out ... from the crowd is the 60mg of caffeine they put inside their meat mix. Now it is only 60mg - so it is not like these are going to power you up, but the buzz is noticeable if you can eat two of them. One does not do much - as 60mg is like half a cup of coffee. Of course, to do this right you gotta wash this down with a full on sugary soda, like a Diet Mountain Dew or Vault. The combo of double dosing the caffeine, sweetness and sugars gave me the necessary dose to get me through my morning. Not to mention this stuff really dries you out - and leaves a person craving some sort of refreshment.
So overall this boost is not so spectacular, but eating 2 of these with some caffeinated soda is a surefire winner.

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