Why You May Want To Keep Aldi's Irish Butter Out Of Your Shopping Cart

Look, we're pretty obsessed with Aldi. We keep running tabs on the best products to buy there, and we anticipate seasonal LTO drops with the fervor of a 6-year-old looking forward to their birthday party. With all that said, not every Aldi item is a winner. Today, we're taking a look at Aldi's Countryside Creamery Pure Irish Butter. Unlike Aldi's regular butter, the wrappers of which may not match the boxes, its Irish butter is considered a premium product and currently sells for $3.95 per 8-ounce package, while its plain Countryside Creamery salted butter is $4.15 for a full pound ... a starkly lower unit price.

It's no secret that Aldi's Irish butter is meant to be a dupe for Kerrygold, our own pick for the best grocery store butter brand. The internet has made something of a game out of comparing the two, to the point that some social media consumers have even wondered if Kerrygold wasn't supplying Aldi's Irish butter (it's not). Yet while some Aldi private-label items are so high-quality that we actually prefer them to their brand-name counterparts, Countryside Creamery Pure Irish Butter just doesn't measure up. It's a scooch cheaper, but the savings just aren't worth it for an inferior product, in our humble opinion.

At first glance, Aldi's Irish butter has a lot in common with Kerrygold. It's rich, bright yellow, and very spreadable. Unfortunately, the taste-test reveals a big difference. While Kerrygold has a complex flavor with depth and dimension, Aldi's Irish butter tastes somewhat flat in comparison. This is a sentiment echoed by a Redditor: "[W]e still like Kerrygold more. Kerrygold is a bit richer or more flavorful, if that makes sense." "Kerrygold will ALWAYS be a winner," swore a TikTok commenter. On Facebook, a similar comment encapsulated a lot of folks' beliefs: "Kerrygold is the best butter I have ever tasted [...] I have tried the Aldi brand a few times, and while it's not horrible, it's just not the same."

Therein lies the problem with Aldi's Irish butter. There's nothing wrong with it at all. If you didn't know better, you'd probably think it was very decent butter. But, because we have tried Kerrygold, we can't put that genie back in the lamp. If you are planning on using your butter for minor utilities like greasing a pan, stick with the cheapest thing out there. If you need a butter-forward application, shell out for the real thing. Between the higher price and the lower quality, there's just no place in our kitchens for the Aldi Irish Butter.