I posted this information on another thread in the general section, but I thought it might be a good idea to post it here too . . .

thought you all might like this excert from the cook's illustrated website (it is an area for member's only, so I am not posting the link):

"Twenty tasters, including two local pastry chefs, sampled
eight different vanilla extracts added to crème anglaise
(at the very end of sauce making, so that the extract
was not exposed to heat) and baked into a yellow butter
cake. Six productsincluding supermarket staples
and expensive mail-order brandswere pure (made
from Madagascar vanilla bean extracts), and two were
premium imitation vanillas that included some natural
flavors among their ingredients. Samples were tried in
different orders to eliminate palate fatigue, with one
sample repeated twice as a control. The tasters rated
each sample from 1 to 10, placing them in categories
of highly recommended, recommended, or not recommended.
They also scored each sample on perceived
sweetness, floral nuances, and artificial flavor. The
samples are listed in order based on the combined
scores from the two tests, but the overall differences
were slight. Consequently, all are recommended.

In order based on strength of rating:
SHAWS Pure Vanilla Extract
( $3.29 for 2 ounces
CVS Premium Imitation Vanilla
( $0.99 for 8 ounces
MCCORMICK Imitation Vanilla Extract
( $2.49 for 2 ounces
DURKEE Pure Vanilla Extract
( $6.00 for 2 ounces
SPICE ISLANDS Pure Vanilla Extract
( $8.00 for 2 ounces
MCCORMICK Pure Vanilla Extract
( $2.99 for 2 ounces
PENZEYS Pure Vanilla Extract, Single-Strength
( $10.00 for 4 ounces
NIELSEN-MASSEY Pure Vanilla Extract
( $6.99 for 4 ounces

Isn't CVS a drugstore?

I'm in the south and don't recognize the name as a grocery store. I remember a CVS right on the corner of Charles Street in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. Is that CVS?

Yes, it is a drugstore....they have their own brand of a lot of items though.

CVS is indeed a drug store. In the Columbus Ohio area, they are springing up on every corner.

I read this article maybe a year ago and decided to try the cvs brand(kind of like walgreens) and it was !!!! I used to be subscriber of cook's illustrated i did disagree on some of the taste tests they did.