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We need double blind studies to see if it is. My prediction: nobody will be able to tell if it's $50 or $5 a pound, same as most people can't tell if they're dr

by m0zg 7y ago

We need double blind studies to see if it is. My prediction: nobody will be able to tell if it's $50 or $5 a pound, same as most people can't tell if they're drinking red wine or white wine with red food coloring, or tell apart an audiophile speaker cable and a wire coat hanger.

Xcelerate 7y ago
> We need double blind studies to see if it is. See my comment elsewhere in the thread; my wife and I did this (sample size of 2, but still...) There's definitely a difference between supermarket butter and "premium" butter — whether that's worth $50 is a matter of debate. I think the difference between butter brands is much more pronounced than differences between wine though.
AdrianB1 7y ago
I may be able to make a difference on butter (I used to manufacture my own dairy, my grandparents had a small cow farm), but I can distinguish wine. Nobody can distinguish audio by the type of cable unless you use a defective or extremely thin cable, so the wire coat hanger test is not needed.
- paulcole 7y ago
  Don’t you think an audiophile is going to claim that they can tell between cables but might not believe anybody can tell wines apart?
  - buckminster 7y ago
    There is a difference though. Some people really can taste wine blind and tell you, for example, what grape was used and where it was grown. A relative of mine with this skill used to win wine tasting competitions. But nobody can distinguish expensive speaker cables in blind trials.
xutopia 7y ago
I can taste and smell a difference between grass fed beef butter and cow feed (mixture of hay and corn usually). I've done so in blind tests before. My favorite butters are French cultured butters and I prefer salted over unsalted. The tanginess you get from culture elevates the taste of butter to a whole other level.
steveklabnik 7y ago
I watch a YouTube series where experts compare two of the things that they're an expert in. (Food/drink wise, that is.) They then have to pick which is more expensive. They virtually always get it right. Though I think the trick is in the formulation; it's not "is this thing $50 or $5," it's "which of these two is the expensive one?" Several episodes, the person says something like "I actually think this one is better, but I know that it's the cheaper one." I think one, if I recall, was mint chocolate chip ice cream. "This is the cheap one but it tastes like what you're imagining when I say "mint chocolate chip ice cream," this other one has higher quality ingredients but you may actually prefer the iconic one."
AlisdairO 7y ago
Have you tried higher quality butters? The difference is palpable, and can be easily picked out by uneducated palates under blind conditions. Whether this butter is that noticeably different to other super high grade butters I wouldn't know, but I've frequently run into people who treat butter as some undifferentiated fat, which seems generally to be due to lack of exposure to the real thing.

by m0zg 7y ago

Xcelerate 7y ago

> We need double blind studies to see if it is. See my comment elsewhere in the thread; my wife and I did this (sample size of 2, but still...) There's definitely a difference between supermarket butter and "premium" butter — whether that's worth $50 is a matter of debate. I think the difference between butter brands is much more pronounced than differences between wine though.

AdrianB1 7y ago

I may be able to make a difference on butter (I used to manufacture my own dairy, my grandparents had a small cow farm), but I can distinguish wine. Nobody can distinguish audio by the type of cable unless you use a defective or extremely thin cable, so the wire coat hanger test is not needed.

paulcole 7y ago
Don’t you think an audiophile is going to claim that they can tell between cables but might not believe anybody can tell wines apart?
- buckminster 7y ago
  There is a difference though. Some people really can taste wine blind and tell you, for example, what grape was used and where it was grown. A relative of mine with this skill used to win wine tasting competitions. But nobody can distinguish expensive speaker cables in blind trials.

xutopia 7y ago

I can taste and smell a difference between grass fed beef butter and cow feed (mixture of hay and corn usually). I've done so in blind tests before. My favorite butters are French cultured butters and I prefer salted over unsalted. The tanginess you get from culture elevates the taste of butter to a whole other level.

steveklabnik 7y ago

I watch a YouTube series where experts compare two of the things that they're an expert in. (Food/drink wise, that is.) They then have to pick which is more expensive. They virtually always get it right. Though I think the trick is in the formulation; it's not "is this thing $50 or $5," it's "which of these two is the expensive one?" Several episodes, the person says something like "I actually think this one is better, but I know that it's the cheaper one." I think one, if I recall, was mint chocolate chip ice cream. "This is the cheap one but it tastes like what you're imagining when I say "mint chocolate chip ice cream," this other one has higher quality ingredients but you may actually prefer the iconic one."

AlisdairO 7y ago

Have you tried higher quality butters? The difference is palpable, and can be easily picked out by uneducated palates under blind conditions. Whether this butter is that noticeably different to other super high grade butters I wouldn't know, but I've frequently run into people who treat butter as some undifferentiated fat, which seems generally to be due to lack of exposure to the real thing.