Glenstal Irish Creamery Salted Butter, €3.59 for 454g;€7.91 per kg
The first thing that attracted us to this product was its name. We quite liked the notion that the monks of Glenstal had made a commercial breakthrough and were now selling their products in Tesco. Sadly, that is not the case and there is no connection between the monks and this butter. The second thing which caught our eye was the wax paper wrapping which is pleasingly old school. What we actually liked most about the brand was the flavour, it was just full of it. It was wonderfully salty and very creamy and made our morning toast a whole lot better than it might have been. While it is dearer than the own-brand options, it is by no means overly expensive.
Verdict: Gorgeous
Star rating: * * * * * *
Tesco Irish Creamery Butter,€2.19 for 454g; €4.83 per kg
When it comes to price this wins hands down. It is substantially cheaper than its rivals today and if you are not looking for your butter to be a star player in a meal, you won’t go far wrong with this. That is not, however, to suggest that it is as good as its rivals. We kind of thought that butter was butter and it wouldn’t matter where it came from or who made it. We were wrong. This lacked the salty creaminess and the richness that we found elsewhere and while we’d not notice the difference once it is married to jam and slathered all over our toast, we did notice a difference when we were paying attention.
Verdict: Cheap
Star rating: * * * *
Kerrygold, €3.75 for 454g; €8.26 per kg
Kerrygold has not grown into one of the most famous Irish brands in the world by making bad products and this is not – by any measure – a bad product. It is pleasingly familiar and very traditional, and must rank as one of the most widely available products to be found in Ireland and can be easily sourced in the largest supermarket and the smallest corner shop. It has a nice balance of flavours with a decent salt kick and a pleasant creaminess to it. We were mildly put off by the price but not so much that we'd refuse to buy it.
Verdict: Reliable and quality
Star rating: * * * *
Avonmore, €2.95 for 454g; €6.50 per kg
When we bought this in our local Tesco it was selling at a price that was most competitive and made even more so because we could have bought two pounds of butter for a fiver. It is a fine product. Not as nice as the Glenstal or the Kerrygold and, perhaps, a bit nicer than the Tesco offering. We would have absolutely no problem buying and eating this although if we wanted to make our baked potato really sing, we might look elsewhere.
Verdict: Pretty decent
Star rating: * * *
