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I recently embarked on a butter-tasting saga—sampling nearly 30 kinds, from salted to unsalted, New Zealand to Irish, grass-fed to conventional—all in search of the best. After spreading what felt like pounds of butter on baguettes and baking it into countless shortbread cookies, I picked up a thing or two about this churned dairy staple.
These days, a stroll down the refrigerated aisle presents a dizzying number of butter options—and choosing the right one overwhelms even the most seasoned shoppers. Thankfully, there are plenty of good picks out there, so you’re usually in safe territory. That said, one box of yellow sticks from my tests landed straight at the bottom of the list—a brand you’ll want to skip if you’re after quality butter.
What Makes a Butter Brand Worth Buying
By participating in two months of testing, I discovered just how much butter can vary by brand. The top contenders impressed with fragrant aromas of grass or fresh milk. When softened, they transformed from rock-solid to silky, leaving no greasy notes on the palate. If salted, the best ones packed a punch of salinity—bold yet never overwhelming. In the end, the differences went far beyond subtle. The top butters soared in my taste tests, while the lower-ranked ones made me cringe at the thought of eating them again.
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The Butter Brand to Skip While Grocery Shopping
Whenever I shop for groceries, one of my go-to money-saving tricks involves buying store-brand ingredients—they often cost less and match the quality of name brands. But when it comes to butter, Target’s Good & Gather line underperformed in my taste tests. Both the salted and unsalted versions fell short compared to the many other butters I tried.
Ashia Aubourg
The Good & Gather salted butter, for starters, packs an overwhelming salinity that completely masks its otherwise bland flavor. Spread it on warm bread, and you’ll notice a greasy, pasty film lingering unpleasantly on the palate.
The unsalted version from Target performs similarly. It misses the fresh, grassy, or milky aromas you’d expect—it lacks any scent at all. When I baked shortbread cookies with it, the results tasted flat, as if we’d forgotten to add butter.
With so many balanced, flavorful butters out there, I’d recommend skipping Good & Gather—saving a few cents on a box of these sticks won’t make up for the taste sacrifice.
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