Every Irish person understands the nation’s longstanding love affair with butter, and with almost 514M ‘butter’ videos on TikTok, it seems the rest of the world is becoming just as obsessed as we are. So much so, that Wirecutter – the tried-and-tested by experts section on New York Times – recently named Ireland’s very own Kerrygold as the world’s “butteriest butter”.
Their panel of butter tasting experts tasted 17 salted butters and baked with 11 unsalted butters, tasting salted butter solo, on bread, and melted on fresh noodles and also test-tasting unsalted butter baked into shortbread and pie crust.
Both Kerrygold Salted and Unsalted butter came out on top, with NYT gushing how “the experience of unwrapping a brick of Kerrygold Salted Butter is almost transcendent. Peeling back the golden foil, catching a glimpse of the similarly golden butter beneath, and you’re reaching for a knife and a slice of bread before you even know what you’re doing.”
Their butter experts noted that Kerrygold was one of the few butters that also spread well when cold, with a texture that was ” luxuriously creamy, dense, and silky, without any mouth-coating greasiness.”
The article commented on the high-quality diets of Irish herds, with their grass-fed diets as well as Ireland’s suitable year-round grazing climate resulting in exceptional butter.
While we also love Kerrygold just as much as the NYT, we want to shine a light on some of our other favourite Irish butters…
Abernathy Butter
This Armagh-based butter has a cult following for its distinctive flavours and artisan packaging. They slow churn their butters in small batches, giving them their distinct colour and flavour.
We’re big fans of their classic salted butter which is handmade from local cream, but it’s their unique flavoured butter range using Irish ingredients that makes Abernathy Butter so special. Favourites include the Black Garlic butter, with garlic that is fermented for two weeks to caramelise it, as well as their butter with Atlantic sea sat and dulse (dried seaweed) harvested from the North Coast of Ireland.
Glenstal Irish Butter
There’s something about the old-school parchment paper that Glenstal Butter is wrapped in that makes it feel as though you’ve hand churned it yourself. The farm is in Co. Limerick and dairy herds roam freely outdoors from May to September, the time of year when their lush green grass is most tender and rich in nutrients.
The result is a butter that’s lovely and yellow, naturally soft and full of flavour. We like to add garlic and chopped herbs into half of ours, and re-roll for an easy-to-grab flavour punch when cooking.
Cuinneog Butter
Cuinneog Butter is produced by the Butler family in Co.Mayo, who make their Irish Farmhouse Country Butter and Natural Buttermilk using churning techniques passed from one generation to another.
Cuinneog’s Irish Farmhouse Country Butter and Natural Buttermilk were featured on the menu for the State Banquet in honour of Queen Elizabeth in Dublin Castle on the occasion of the visit of the Queen to Ireland.
Glenilen Farm Butter
Glenilen Farm, located in Drimoleague, West Cork, is led by a family with generations of experience in dairy farming. The butter process has expanded in recent years to include milk from neighbouring farms, all within a 20-mile radius.
Their farmhouse butter is rich and creamy and has won multiple awards.
Irish Gourmet Butter
Irish Gourmet Butter was set up in 2017 by Billy and Mary Sharpe in Co. Waterford, Ireland. Mary’s grandmother was an All-Ireland butter making champion in 1936/37 and she went on to lecture in Dairy Science in Maynooth, Billy also remembers as a child helping to make butter.
Now, the pair are carrying on a tradition started four generations ago. Their butter took a silver award in their category flavoured butter at Blas na hEireann for their Garlic and Herb Butter in 2017 and were finalists in 2018.
