The right amount of garlic (garlic powder) with a certain combination of other spices in pork based (with or without deer meat) breakfast sausage tends to make it smell somewhat like tainted meat in my opinion. This doesn't seem to be as obvious in smoked sausage as it is in breakfast sausage. I love garlic and have been making breakfast sausage for years and have tried on several occasions to include garlic powder in the seasoning mix, but finally gave it up because the smell too closely resembles an early stage of spoilage to me.
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