**The Great Costco Experiment: Uncovering the Truth Behind the Kirkland Signature Brand**

In this episode of our series exploring the Costco brand, we're diving into one of the most popular and debated topics among Costco enthusiasts: the Kirkland Signature brand. But what exactly is Kirkland Signature, and how does it compare to other brands on the market? Is it really a good alternative to name-brand products, or is it just a cheap imitation?

We started our investigation by examining the packaging and labeling of several Kirkland Signature products, including meat substitutes, vodka, and coffee beans. Our first stop was the meat substitute aisle, where we picked up a few packets of Kirkland's "meaty" product. According to the label, this product is made from "natural flavors" and has more oil than traditional bumblebee products. We were skeptical, but willing to give it a try.

When we opened the package, we found that the texture was indeed meatier, but not in a good way. It looked like a big chunk of processed food, rather than a natural product. Our first instinct was to question whether this product is actually made from high-quality ingredients or if it's just a cheap imitation. We decided to dig deeper and discovered that Kirkland Signature imports its products from various countries, including Fiji and France.

We also found out that some products, like the meat substitute, may not be produced in the same facility as their name-brand counterparts. While this doesn't necessarily mean they're of lower quality, it does suggest a lack of transparency about the manufacturing process. On the other hand, products like vodka are distilled five times and use water from the same spring in France, regardless of whether they're made by Grey Goose or Kirkland Signature.

**Tasting Test: Vodka Edition**

One hot rumor circulating around the internet is that Costco's brand of vodka, imported from France, is actually made by the Grey Goose. We decided to put this rumor to the test and purchase both brands, along with some Red Bull to see if it makes a difference. When we tasted the vodka straight, we couldn't tell them apart - they burned fairly equally and lacked any discernible flavor.

However, when we mixed them into drinks, the Grey Goose still managed to outshine the Kirkland Signature. The smoothness of the Grey Goose was apparent, even in a mixed drink. We asked our professional taster for his input, and while he couldn't detect a significant difference between the two, he did say that the Grey Goose tasted smoother.

**The Science Behind Coffee Beans**

In another surprising discovery, we found out that Costco's coffee beans can be cheaper than Starbucks by up to 64 cents per ounce. This is because Kirkland Signature sources its coffee from the same supplier as Starbucks, but at a lower cost. When we conducted our own taste test, using both black and espresso-style coffee, we couldn't tell them apart - they had similar flavor profiles and textures.

However, one key difference was that the Starbucks-roasted coffee was slightly smoother to our taster's palate. We still can't deny that the Kirkland Signature product is a great alternative to name-brand coffee at a fraction of the cost.

**The Verdict: Is Kirkland Signature Really Better than Name-Brand?**

As we concluded our investigation, we found that most cases, the Kirkland Signature brand was either identical or superior to its name-brand counterparts. While some products may have slightly different ingredients or manufacturing processes, the differences were often minimal and not worth sacrificing quality for a price advantage.

However, there are still some caveats to consider. When purchasing in bulk, buying in bulk can indeed save you money on name-brand products. Ultimately, whether or not Kirkland Signature is the right choice for you depends on your personal preferences and priorities.

**Giveaway Time!**

As promised, we're giving away a $500 Costco gift card to one lucky winner. To enter, simply follow us both on Instagram and Facebook, and be sure to check out our stories for more details about this exciting giveaway. We'll announce the winner soon, so stay tuned!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello and welcome back to my channel i hope you are ready today for some hard-hitting investigative journalism in the first video of my series brittany investigates i recently came across some information alleging the big name brands that are actually producing the costco kirkland products so i wanted to do my own investigation here how do the prices compare how do the products compare the taste the quality are they actually the same and in this video i'm giving away a 500 costco gift card to someone who is subscribed to my channel and following me over on instagram i'll have the other details down in the description box so make sure you're subscribed if you are new and with that said let's head on over and head to costco all right guys we are here we're at costco and we're gonna check it out we're gonna scope out the place have my trusty sidekick here with me i just hope we don't get conned we have to be very still all right let's get down to business first thing on the list here the costco kirkland batteries now i love to buy my batteries in bulk and save money but i just have the association that a generic battery doesn't work as well like i'm a duracell gal i always find that those last the longest for me so imagine my surprise and delight when i found out that allegedly kirkland batteries are actually made by duracell exact same batteries made at the same facility and you can get these at costco interestingly enough they're they're sold right next to the kirkland brand and these retail at costco for 42 cents per battery when you do the math 42 cents per battery now the kirkland signature double a battery these are 29 cents each this one has been confirmed this was actually said by the costco ceo himself in 2016. and let me just say this these get juicier as we go along and the one i'm most curious about is the one at the end so stay tuned to the end all right we're all set we have our kirkland batteries in candle a and the duracell batteries in candle b and i'm just gonna leave these babies on update i have the kirkland batteries in this candle the duracell batteries in this candle i've had them going non-stop for days they're both still going strong i'm waiting for one to run out of batteries but this video is about to go live and they're both they're both still doing it this next one actually blew my mind so here's the t okay did you know the kirkland brand of diapers is actually huggies so first let's do our cost breakdown the kirkland signature diapers are 19 cents per diaper and the huggies at costco are 26 cents per diaper even though they are apparently the same thing i still need to test now just examining these visually they look exactly the same even the wings on the side the exact same shape the only difference that i see is that on the huggies there's a little purple velcro strip on the front and i'm guessing that this just gives a better grip the kirkland does not have that but i need to say the kirkland diapers have way cuter patterns so they're winning in that department okay so we're just gonna start dumping water in these two diapers and see how does the absorbency look is it the same does one outperform the other yeah i'll be real with you i've always been a pampers mom and that is simply because it's always worked for me if it ain't broke don't fix it look i have heard good things about huggies at this point both of these diapers have absorbed a staggering 16 ounces of water oh my they both stack up they are both absorbing quite a lot of liquid i have dry paper towels i'm going to blot the interior and see if either of them does a better job put our towel down and we're going to blot down hmm okay interesting okay the liquid transfer looks approximately equal so look at this point just for my initial testing it appears to be that this is legit now we're going to move into the edible category with the kirkland organic greek yogurt which allegedly is manufactured by the green mountain creamery which is a very well-known creamery made in vermont it's supposed to make some of the best yogurt but guess what they make it for kirkland too green mountain rings in at 18 cents an ounce and the kirkland organic greek yogurt rings in at 12 cents an ounce we're gonna start with our green mountain plain greek yogurt very distinct taste they don't taste identical to me green mountain one tastes like slightly more sour to me in my opinion this one tastes better this one is just smoother on the palette so this is the winner cost wise taste wise kirkland you're impressing me so far you guys are enjoying this video so far give it a thumbs up and that will tell me you want a part two because i have like 15 more i can do if you enjoy this one next up is kirkland hair care products their moisture shampoo and conditioner is allegedly the pureology brand shampoo and conditioner this is a higher end salon quality pricey hair care line curology is 3.43 per ounce where the kirkland is 27 cents an ounce now the link here is that pureology is owned by l'oreal who has allegedly brokered a deal with kirkland to produce some products for them the kirkland brand says it's free of sulfates parabens phosphates dyes and is 100 vegan but on the pureology all it says is 100 vegan just looking side by side at the ingredients the ingredients are not exactly the same but there is quite a lot of crossover now my scientific experiment for this that i conducted so i shampooed my hair as normal but i use the pureology conditioner on one half of my hair and the kirkland moisture conditioner on the other half of my hair i'm very careful to keep them separated i can tell you that they feel the same okay so take that for what it's worth i will say that the scent of the purology is lingering longer but i don't know if i i love a minty smelling head so there is no official confirmation here this one is just speculation but what do you think are you convinced are you not convinced okay next up let's talk laundry detergent first here we have our kirkland ultra clean tough stain odor eliminating laundry detergent and our alleged manufacturer here is purcell and where the link here is is the manufacturer which is hinkle hinkle is a german-based company that makes the purcell and signed a contract to produce for costco the personal rings in at 14 cents an ounce where the kirkland brand rings in at 6 cents an ounce percil is more than double the price they have similar claims here on the label the odor elimination our kirkland brand is a pretty ocean blue color curiously identical to the pursle when i look at the ingredients going one by one by one they are almost identical the only difference being the fragrances which lines up with the labels because this one is a lavender scent and this one is a fresh scent but we still need to test them side by side for our detergent side-by-side test this is what i'm gonna be washing this basket full of dirty microfiber cloths that i use to mop the house with so these things are pretty filthy so i'm going to put half in one load first with the purcell and then half in a second load with the kirkland same settings and we'll be back to see if one looks cleaner than the other so these have been washed and dried the left is the personal detergent and the right is the kirkland to be honest with you neither of them got these fully cleaned they were pretty filthy just doing the side by side comparison they seem to perform fairly equally let's do another food one next and that is the kirkland albacore solid white tuna is allegedly made by bumblebee the famous tuna brand 49 cents an ounce where the kirkland is 27 cents an ounce so this is quite a better deal the kirkland one looks a lot meatier the bumblebee there's a lot more oil and it looks more pc where this looks like a big chunk of meat product of fiji hold on kirkland's getting this from fiji is this made in fiji this is a product of moritus maybe they're not the same anymore i no longer believe these are made by the same company maybe something happened and i'm actually going to say that the bumblebee to me tastes better tastes a little fresher the kirkland one is not bad at all you know mix that up in some tuna salad i'm sure you would never notice the difference now we're getting to the juicy one are you ready for this there are hot rumors circulating around the internet that the costco brand vodka imported from france is actually made by the bougie gray goose the gray goose is 45.99 for 1.75 liters and the costco is 18.99 for the same amount so this one is more than double the price now this one has been hotly debated so here's the deal they are both five times distilled vodka made in france furthermore they both are said to use water from the gensack springs in france here's where it gets interesting okay according to my research grey goose is distilled and produced in gensock france whereas the kirkland signature is produced in digiont which is almost a seven hour drive from each other so that is telling me that maybe most likely they're not actually made in the same facility but they're made using water from the same spring and the similar distillation process both five times the silt so they're probably pretty darn similar gosh i don't know when the last time was i just tasted pure vodka but we're doing it for science and no i do not have shot glasses because uh that's just not my life anymore okay we're gonna start with our kirkland oh that one burns now we'll go for the gray goose oh my god they're both bad and they burn bad and they burn fairly equally i couldn't tell you if one was better than the other because they're both nasty we have our professional taster here to give his input here's number one and here's number two the first one's grey goose this one's kirkland and you're right was there a big difference for you not much but a little bit but that first one tastes a little bit smoother okay now we've turned them into mixed drinks vodka red bull to see if that makes a difference uh the expensive was the second one nope that's the kirkland baby well now let me try them they taste identical in a mixed drink which is how most of us are having our vodka i cannot taste the difference the one i'm going to end with here you may already know this one is not a secret but you might just not be consciously aware that you can save money getting your kirkland brand espresso coffee beans versus the starbucks because starbucks they make this and the price difference okay wait for it this is 64 cents an ounce for the starbucks the kirkland is 29 cents an ounce now i do have to put this to the test but i'm filming this at night if you can't tell so i'm going to come back on in the morning have my morning coffee with both and give you the final verdict do they actually taste the same now mr bougie here for the coffee taste test is there actually a difference in flavor so here's number one i'll be the judge of that it's just black to see the real flavor okay okay number two like how similar do they taste they do taste so much it's a similar type of bean but i prefer the second that is the starbucks roasted yeah the starbucks roasted one is a little smoother to me it is the kirkland one is a tiny bit more bitter i would say 90 similar though but there is a slight difference but this one cost more than twice the amount yeah that's true so i hope you guys enjoyed my little investigation here into the kirkland brand and i have to say my overarching feeling is that kirkland's pretty great almost all cases the kirkland brand was identical if not superior now granted the kirkland products do come in bulk so you are getting some of those cost savings by purchasing in both so that is just a personal choice it might be worthwhile to you which of these did you find the most surprising if you want me to do another one again and give this a thumbs up and if you want to be entered to win a 500 costco gift card make sure you are following me both here and on instagram because i will be announcing the winner on my instagram stories all the details are going to be in the description box and with all that said i will see you soon with a new videohello and welcome back to my channel i hope you are ready today for some hard-hitting investigative journalism in the first video of my series brittany investigates i recently came across some information alleging the big name brands that are actually producing the costco kirkland products so i wanted to do my own investigation here how do the prices compare how do the products compare the taste the quality are they actually the same and in this video i'm giving away a 500 costco gift card to someone who is subscribed to my channel and following me over on instagram i'll have the other details down in the description box so make sure you're subscribed if you are new and with that said let's head on over and head to costco all right guys we are here we're at costco and we're gonna check it out we're gonna scope out the place have my trusty sidekick here with me i just hope we don't get conned we have to be very still all right let's get down to business first thing on the list here the costco kirkland batteries now i love to buy my batteries in bulk and save money but i just have the association that a generic battery doesn't work as well like i'm a duracell gal i always find that those last the longest for me so imagine my surprise and delight when i found out that allegedly kirkland batteries are actually made by duracell exact same batteries made at the same facility and you can get these at costco interestingly enough they're they're sold right next to the kirkland brand and these retail at costco for 42 cents per battery when you do the math 42 cents per battery now the kirkland signature double a battery these are 29 cents each this one has been confirmed this was actually said by the costco ceo himself in 2016. and let me just say this these get juicier as we go along and the one i'm most curious about is the one at the end so stay tuned to the end all right we're all set we have our kirkland batteries in candle a and the duracell batteries in candle b and i'm just gonna leave these babies on update i have the kirkland batteries in this candle the duracell batteries in this candle i've had them going non-stop for days they're both still going strong i'm waiting for one to run out of batteries but this video is about to go live and they're both they're both still doing it this next one actually blew my mind so here's the t okay did you know the kirkland brand of diapers is actually huggies so first let's do our cost breakdown the kirkland signature diapers are 19 cents per diaper and the huggies at costco are 26 cents per diaper even though they are apparently the same thing i still need to test now just examining these visually they look exactly the same even the wings on the side the exact same shape the only difference that i see is that on the huggies there's a little purple velcro strip on the front and i'm guessing that this just gives a better grip the kirkland does not have that but i need to say the kirkland diapers have way cuter patterns so they're winning in that department okay so we're just gonna start dumping water in these two diapers and see how does the absorbency look is it the same does one outperform the other yeah i'll be real with you i've always been a pampers mom and that is simply because it's always worked for me if it ain't broke don't fix it look i have heard good things about huggies at this point both of these diapers have absorbed a staggering 16 ounces of water oh my they both stack up they are both absorbing quite a lot of liquid i have dry paper towels i'm going to blot the interior and see if either of them does a better job put our towel down and we're going to blot down hmm okay interesting okay the liquid transfer looks approximately equal so look at this point just for my initial testing it appears to be that this is legit now we're going to move into the edible category with the kirkland organic greek yogurt which allegedly is manufactured by the green mountain creamery which is a very well-known creamery made in vermont it's supposed to make some of the best yogurt but guess what they make it for kirkland too green mountain rings in at 18 cents an ounce and the kirkland organic greek yogurt rings in at 12 cents an ounce we're gonna start with our green mountain plain greek yogurt very distinct taste they don't taste identical to me green mountain one tastes like slightly more sour to me in my opinion this one tastes better this one is just smoother on the palette so this is the winner cost wise taste wise kirkland you're impressing me so far you guys are enjoying this video so far give it a thumbs up and that will tell me you want a part two because i have like 15 more i can do if you enjoy this one next up is kirkland hair care products their moisture shampoo and conditioner is allegedly the pureology brand shampoo and conditioner this is a higher end salon quality pricey hair care line curology is 3.43 per ounce where the kirkland is 27 cents an ounce now the link here is that pureology is owned by l'oreal who has allegedly brokered a deal with kirkland to produce some products for them the kirkland brand says it's free of sulfates parabens phosphates dyes and is 100 vegan but on the pureology all it says is 100 vegan just looking side by side at the ingredients the ingredients are not exactly the same but there is quite a lot of crossover now my scientific experiment for this that i conducted so i shampooed my hair as normal but i use the pureology conditioner on one half of my hair and the kirkland moisture conditioner on the other half of my hair i'm very careful to keep them separated i can tell you that they feel the same okay so take that for what it's worth i will say that the scent of the purology is lingering longer but i don't know if i i love a minty smelling head so there is no official confirmation here this one is just speculation but what do you think are you convinced are you not convinced okay next up let's talk laundry detergent first here we have our kirkland ultra clean tough stain odor eliminating laundry detergent and our alleged manufacturer here is purcell and where the link here is is the manufacturer which is hinkle hinkle is a german-based company that makes the purcell and signed a contract to produce for costco the personal rings in at 14 cents an ounce where the kirkland brand rings in at 6 cents an ounce percil is more than double the price they have similar claims here on the label the odor elimination our kirkland brand is a pretty ocean blue color curiously identical to the pursle when i look at the ingredients going one by one by one they are almost identical the only difference being the fragrances which lines up with the labels because this one is a lavender scent and this one is a fresh scent but we still need to test them side by side for our detergent side-by-side test this is what i'm gonna be washing this basket full of dirty microfiber cloths that i use to mop the house with so these things are pretty filthy so i'm going to put half in one load first with the purcell and then half in a second load with the kirkland same settings and we'll be back to see if one looks cleaner than the other so these have been washed and dried the left is the personal detergent and the right is the kirkland to be honest with you neither of them got these fully cleaned they were pretty filthy just doing the side by side comparison they seem to perform fairly equally let's do another food one next and that is the kirkland albacore solid white tuna is allegedly made by bumblebee the famous tuna brand 49 cents an ounce where the kirkland is 27 cents an ounce so this is quite a better deal the kirkland one looks a lot meatier the bumblebee there's a lot more oil and it looks more pc where this looks like a big chunk of meat product of fiji hold on kirkland's getting this from fiji is this made in fiji this is a product of moritus maybe they're not the same anymore i no longer believe these are made by the same company maybe something happened and i'm actually going to say that the bumblebee to me tastes better tastes a little fresher the kirkland one is not bad at all you know mix that up in some tuna salad i'm sure you would never notice the difference now we're getting to the juicy one are you ready for this there are hot rumors circulating around the internet that the costco brand vodka imported from france is actually made by the bougie gray goose the gray goose is 45.99 for 1.75 liters and the costco is 18.99 for the same amount so this one is more than double the price now this one has been hotly debated so here's the deal they are both five times distilled vodka made in france furthermore they both are said to use water from the gensack springs in france here's where it gets interesting okay according to my research grey goose is distilled and produced in gensock france whereas the kirkland signature is produced in digiont which is almost a seven hour drive from each other so that is telling me that maybe most likely they're not actually made in the same facility but they're made using water from the same spring and the similar distillation process both five times the silt so they're probably pretty darn similar gosh i don't know when the last time was i just tasted pure vodka but we're doing it for science and no i do not have shot glasses because uh that's just not my life anymore okay we're gonna start with our kirkland oh that one burns now we'll go for the gray goose oh my god they're both bad and they burn bad and they burn fairly equally i couldn't tell you if one was better than the other because they're both nasty we have our professional taster here to give his input here's number one and here's number two the first one's grey goose this one's kirkland and you're right was there a big difference for you not much but a little bit but that first one tastes a little bit smoother okay now we've turned them into mixed drinks vodka red bull to see if that makes a difference uh the expensive was the second one nope that's the kirkland baby well now let me try them they taste identical in a mixed drink which is how most of us are having our vodka i cannot taste the difference the one i'm going to end with here you may already know this one is not a secret but you might just not be consciously aware that you can save money getting your kirkland brand espresso coffee beans versus the starbucks because starbucks they make this and the price difference okay wait for it this is 64 cents an ounce for the starbucks the kirkland is 29 cents an ounce now i do have to put this to the test but i'm filming this at night if you can't tell so i'm going to come back on in the morning have my morning coffee with both and give you the final verdict do they actually taste the same now mr bougie here for the coffee taste test is there actually a difference in flavor so here's number one i'll be the judge of that it's just black to see the real flavor okay okay number two like how similar do they taste they do taste so much it's a similar type of bean but i prefer the second that is the starbucks roasted yeah the starbucks roasted one is a little smoother to me it is the kirkland one is a tiny bit more bitter i would say 90 similar though but there is a slight difference but this one cost more than twice the amount yeah that's true so i hope you guys enjoyed my little investigation here into the kirkland brand and i have to say my overarching feeling is that kirkland's pretty great almost all cases the kirkland brand was identical if not superior now granted the kirkland products do come in bulk so you are getting some of those cost savings by purchasing in both so that is just a personal choice it might be worthwhile to you which of these did you find the most surprising if you want me to do another one again and give this a thumbs up and if you want to be entered to win a 500 costco gift card make sure you are following me both here and on instagram because i will be announcing the winner on my instagram stories all the details are going to be in the description box and with all that said i will see you soon with a new video\n"