Perky Jerky sounds like the punch line to a bad joke. But it’s a real product: beef jerky permeated with extract from the guarana berry, which has twice the caffeine of a coffee bean. Inspired when his energy drink spilled into a bag of beef jerky, “chief jerk” Brian Levin spent four years developing the sweet-spicy formula. At $4.99 per 2-ounce bag, Perky Jerky is a little more expensive than non-perky jerky, but it has the same amount of caffeine as 2 cups of coffee. “Think about it: You don’t have to buy an energy drink and a bag of jerky,” says Levin, who plans to donate a portion of his earnings to Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Down syndrome research. Look for Perky Jerky soon in sporting goods stores around the state or at . Kristen Browning-Blas
