nosh nook #117 - tuesday, august 25, 2009

it's an energy drink? no, it's beef jerky (link)
08.24.09 - denver business journal - by mark harden

ever wonder how history's great inventions came about? penicillin? somebody left a sandwich out on the counter too long. the ronco rotisserie? somebody left ron popiel out in the garage too long...& there you have it. just like that, we were blessed with two of history's great inventions & they came into being completely by chance. the snack world's no stranger to great inventions & we've now been graced with the greatest invention since sliced bread--"perky jerky"--the result of crossbreeding a bag of jerky with an energy drink. what took science so long?!

perky jerky was created through the same "oops/wait a second..." method that brought us penicillin. as the denver business journal & the perky jerky website describe, it all started "after a long, hard night of energy-drink-cocktail-fueled libation" at a ski lodge, when somebody spilled an energy drink into a bag of jerky. the next morn, when they woke up, somebody was all "i don't care if ronnie spilled his red bull into the bag of jerky last night. i'm friggin starving."...& they went for it...& they liked it...& it was through that process that perky jerky & the performance enhancing meat snack co (PEMS for short) were born.

it turned out that after soaking in energy drink overnight, the jerky actually became more tender & to top it off, the skiers "realized they'd been given an extra boost" from the energy drink. after three years of development, the jerky was finally ready for market. it wasn't easy though. they couldn't just keep getting drunk around the ski lodge & hope for the best. brian levin, the force behind PEMS, explains it this way--"creating an energizing meat snack was only half the battle. i refused to compromise on both the taste and the effect, so it took several years of trial and error to find the perfect combination of flavor and kick." sounds great, brian!...& when it's finally available in stores, i might just try some. i'm always looking for a little extra kick from my meat snacks.