Charqs All Natural Pork Jerky – A Beer & Jerky Pairing

A big thank you to Charqs All Natural Pork Jerky for allowing us to not only sample their jerky, but also work out some great food/beer pairings to go with it.  We wanted to come up with a number of different options for varying beer palates, so our beer-food pairing expert Tom took on the task.

Charqs is an all-natural pork jerky that is the result of the owners extensive travels and smoked meat sampling.  As he puts it, “the word jerky brings to mind a salty beef snack-food, the enjoyment of which may come at the risk of losing a tooth or two” but Charqs is something more.  Owner Greg experimented with 202 batches before settling on the sweet and salty formula for Charqs.

Charqs is an all-natural jerky made with lean meats and wholesome ingredients.  The sweetness comes from pure cane sugar and the savory flavors come from a proprietary blend of spices. But what’s really different is that Charqs is “so tender a baby could eat it.”  This jerky is savory, sweet and a touch smokey so we thought it would pair perfectly with beer.

Our first beer pairing was Penn Brewery’s Allegheny Pale Ale.  This English-style pale ale really brought out the sweetness of the jerky and made for a surprisingly well balanced pairing.  Next we tried a hoppy-er pale ale in New Holland’s Paleooza and while we still thought this was a good pairing, the beer flavors really dominated the jerky (a little too much).  Next up we tried Half Acre’s GoneAway IPA.  This pairing complimented the savory flavors of the Jerky, but again the pork flavors seemed to be a little lost up against the hoppy IPA.

From here we decided to head down a different route with some less traditional beers.  Up first we tried traditional Sapporo beer, but the subtle flavors of this lager really fell into the background of the Charqs.  It was a good pairing, but the beer didn’t necessarily elevate the jerky. 

We next paired Charqs with a Left Hand Milk Stout and the sweet and lactic flavors played really well together.  We found this pairing the most satisfying when done consecutively – that is, having a bit of jerky and then having a sip of the stout, or vice versa. Drinking the Left Hand immediately after eating the jerky caused kind of a muddle, but consecutively, it resulted in an extension of that dark, sweet velvety goodness. I found the sweetness and lack of extensive roastiness in the beer to be a plus (I’m not sure how a coffee stout would fare, for example) so I think the milk stout, and perhaps a dry Irish stout may be the choices to go for here in the stout world.

We then tried Charqs with an Ommegang Hennepin Saison, and this was perhaps our favorite as it really accentuated the Umami flavors.  The sweet and savory jerky flavors were really complimented by the delicate and slightly peppery saison.  The dry yeastiness also mutes the sweetness, which peeks out from in and around the strong savory bent of this duo and contrasts nicely with the darker flavors of the grill and the soy sauce. 

Finally we couldn’t resist trying Charqs with Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen.  This pairing also worked REALLY well with the mix of smokey beer and smoked pork…a hint of sourness, lightly smokey, a bit of grain, caramel, hints of toffee from the beer. Richer soy, grilled pork and sweetness from the jerky were elevated and it was amazing overall.

For us, the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen is the clear pairing winner. But I’d be curious to try a darker German style like bock, doppelbock, weizenbock or dunkelweizen with Charqs.  A close second place would be the Ommegang Hennepin Saison, and again we’d like to experiment with some other saisons to see if they produce better pairing results.

Be sure to try Charqs All Natural pork jerky for yourself, and let us know what beer pairings YOU like best.  Charqs is available on-line in re-sealable 3.2oz USDA certified, shelf-stable packets.