About Joe’s Wicked Good Jerky
Joe Nixt started making beef jerky in the late 1980s, making small batches of Sweet ’N Spicy and Peppered for friends over years of golfing, boating and traveling. By October 2014 he was testing new flavors in the family kitchen and giving them away for a small donation at the local watering hole. People kept telling him he should sell it. His wife Traci, then a legal secretary who was unhappy in the job, came home from a bad day, and Joe suggested they try selling the jerky. A catchy name and logo took some time, and the official launch came in March 2015, with Traci handling sales and tastings while Joe kept running his contracting business. The couple are native Californians in the North State near Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen, and the brand is distributed out of Redding.
What makes Joe’s Wicked Good Jerky different
The brand pitches its jerky to serious jerky lovers, comparing the flavor to a grilled steak and promising a chew that keeps the natural texture of the beef. Every recipe is Joe’s own, and the brand says they are always evolving. The meat is an extra-lean cut of top round, USDA inspected and approved, with no preservatives, no artificial ingredients and no MSG. Joe’s Wicked Good Jerky calls itself a jerky made for the outdoors, built to fuel fishing, hiking, skiing and rafting the Sacramento River. Steve Johnson of BestBeefJerky.org rated Regular Joe “Best” in 2015.
Joe’s Wicked Good Jerky flavors we carry
Everything here is beef, so your choice comes down to heat and seasoning. If you want the steak-like flavor without the spice, the brand’s take on original-style beef jerky is the one it insists is no regular jerky. Its peppered beef jerky is described as sweet with a peppery taste, with no heat called out beyond the pepper, while the sweet and spicy beef jerky pairs sweetness with an abundance of spices. There is a Bloody Mary-inspired jerky built from the drink’s ingredients minus the vodka and tomato, with a little heat according to the brand. At the top end, a habanero and ghost pepper flavor is billed as extremely spicy and sits with the rest of our ghost pepper beef jerky. Everything currently in stock is in the grid above.
Who it's for
This is a brand for you if you want jerky that chews like steak rather than something soft. The range runs from no spice to extremely spicy, so you can pick your heat level with confidence. The brand calls it a protein-rich snack without all the fat, but makes no gluten-free or keto claims and publishes no ingredient lists on its site, so check the bag if you have an allergy.
JerkyBrands is an independent retailer; the Joe’s Wicked Good Jerky name and logo are trademarks of their owner.
