This Danish cultured butter tasted "creamy" and "nutty" on its own and baked up into cookies with a "near-perfect," "tight crumb."

A favorite for those who liked a subtle “cheesy tang” to their butter, this small-batch New England log earned second place for being “rich” and “creamy” without tasting greasy.

Multiple tasters compared this slightly sour French butter to “cream cheese,” “yogurt” and “mascarpone.” It also turned out “rich, buttery” cookies.

One taster noted that this “luscious,” “melt-in-your-mouth” Belgian butter tasted “just a few steps short of crème fraîche.” This plus a little sea salt, several tasters noted, would be perfection on bread.

Most tasters had no trouble picking this “plain,” “bland” supermarket staple from the lineup—“average table butter,” one taster noted—but it baked up surprisingly well in cookies.

Tasters appreciated this Maine-made butter’s “clean” flavor, though most felt its “sweeter,” “blander” profile paled in comparison to cultured butters.

Most tasters noted this Minnesota butter’s striking yellow color. A few praised its “sweet cream” flavor and “rich” texture, but many found it “oily” and even “rancid” in flavor—perhaps due to its thinner wax paper wrapping.

Too much culture in this case, tasters thought. Only tasters who craved particularly “cheesy,” “sour” flavor in their butter liked this coveted French butter.