I seem to be forever looking for the best food to eat while riding, I find the bars to be very meh (but will do in a pinch), the gummy’s to be very tasty but sometimes too sweet and not filling and then the yucky gu packets…well ew. When I first saw Black Tusk Jerky Mountain Mix I thought, I like all those things and if they taste good together we might have a winner!

I read tons of great things about the mountain mix online, but no one locally was carrying it, then I saw them post up on the nsmb.com forums that they would send out samples to anyone who wanted to try, and I jumped at the chance and sent them an email.

To my surprise they sent out a ton of samples for me to try out and the long and short of it is…holy crap they are good! They almost didn’t last long enough for me to try out on the trail, but I did manage to save one package for a long ride. I loved how it not only filled me up but gave me the energy and protein needed to finish the 2nd half of my ride feeling awesome.

My favourites of the bunch was the Very Teriyaki and the Peppered…this is not to say that the Sweet Chili was not good…because I ate it up as fast as the rest, but I just preferred the flavours of the others. I loved the mix of the jerky, nuts and berries, I don’t know why someone didn’t think of this earlier, and then to put it in a resealable package so you could just take what you want and then throw it back in your pack was a stroke of brilliance.

It’s not all giggles and happiness though. I was really stoked when I asked if the jerky was gluten free (My girlfriend Shannon is celiac) and they said it was, but just the grass fed jerky none of the mountain mix packs were gluten free, I don’t know why they use a different jerky (I assume this is where the gluten comes from) but it would be nice to see this changed. The other thing I would like to see changed is to get rid of the sodium nitrite in the jerky, there are other companies out there making jerky without adding nitrites so I know it can be done, so why not do it?

It looks like they have spent a lot of time making a great product using organic ingredients, awesome grass fed beef and making some of their products gluten free, and be super tasty and convenient but a few little things could make it so more people could enjoy this awesome BC made product and take it to the next level of awesome.

If you are not worried about the gluten or nitrites then I would not hesitate in picking some up as it is a tasty alternative to the bland and boring energy food you are already eating.

If your local shop does not carry Black Tusk products you can order it straight from the source, you will not regret it.