We'll be honest, when we first started carrying Scottish butter in 2025, we weren't too sure that there were enough curious consumers out there to make it a viable new product offering. We just didn't know! We knew from tasting the artisanal butters made by Wee Knob that this was top-notch stuff, far superior to what many of us are used to from the local grocery store. It turns out that our customers share our enthusiasm for this deluxe product, and the demand has allowed us to expand the line, adding Sundried Tomato and Basil to our offerings.
Scottish Butter long struggled to gain attention outside of the country, but that is changing. With Amish, French and Irish butters routinely showing up on the shelves of American grocery stores, consumers in the US are getting more familiar with the regional differences in dairy products in addition to the flavor profiles that result from milk from cattle of different breeds and raised on different feeds. Truth is, the milk from cows in Kansas tastes different than the milk from cows in Scotland, or Denmark or Ireland for that matter. And the butter-making techniques differ from region to region as well. Some butters have a higher milk-fat content. And that makes a difference to the taste and texture. Grass-fed cows produce milk that tastes very different from the milk of cows raised on a feedlot.
At Wee Knob, all the milk comes from 100% Scottish, grass fed, Friesian cows.
As writer Elaine Khosrova, author of “Butter: A Rich History,” says about the assignment of tasting and ranking two dozen different butters from around the world that prompted her to eventually write her 2016 book, “as I examined and tasted each sample, I was surprised that no two were alike,” she writes. “I found nuances in color, consistency, milkiness, salt content, sweetness, acidity, freshness, even nutty and herbal notes. Some glistened: others were matte. Some butters slumped as they sat at room temperature, others stood firm. Several had a fresh, lactic taste while a few were culture and more tangy.”
One can see that the complexities of flavor are comparable to something like whisky, or wine or cheese, warranting elaborate tasting notes.
“Every detail of a particular butter’s character is indeed formed from the unique commingling of three living variables: man, plant, and beast,” writes Khosrova.
With other types of regional food and drink — whisky, gin, cheese, shortbread, and haggis — enticing thousands of tourists every year, more and more travelers encounter Scottish dairy products at farm stands, regional cafes and other points in their travels. Scottish butters are a part of what journalists have called a micro-trend of "quiet luxury" experiences. Khosrova labels it "slow butter revivalism" -- a movement fueled by "entrepreneurial low-tech dairyfolk looking to sustain their farms and way of life" as well as "a sizable troupe of chefs, avid foodists, and stayunch do-it-yeourselfes -- all batch-churning their own microbutters fr an enthusiastic niche of eaters."
Food is a big reason that many people travel now. Eating locally, seeing the places the food is grown and made, meeting the people behind the products we love, this is all part of the experience now, and dairy farms are a natural draw, because people love animals and the setting. Butter, like whisky, has a venerable history in Scotland. (If you start exploring the subject, you'll come across references to things like "bog butter," possibly an ancient storage technique for preserving essentials.)
Wee Knob Butter isn't the product of one farm, but the company's origin story goes right back to farmers' markets and hand-made artisanal traditions. The company was founded by Jules Bal, a Frenchman who had moved to Scotland as a teenager, and who had learned traditional butter-making techniques from his father. Initially Bal made artisan butters for friends and special gatherings, and the enthusiastic response indicated that there was a wider market for his creations. Chefs, bakers and food lovers were eager customers at regional farmers markets. Now Wee Knob butters are sold all around the UK, and we’re excited to be able to offer these exquisite, handcrafted butters to Scottish Gourmet USA customers.
If you’re slightly stumped as to how best to utilize these butters, here are a few suggestions: sauteed shrimp, for finishing a steak, with chicken wings, French toast, garlic bread, and pasta. Perfect on a bacon butty, too.