I have searched for a topic discussing this, but haven't found one so I am starting my own.

What is butterbeer? Is it the equivalent of Root Beer or is it a British drink? I have always wondered this. My brother and I were discussing Harry Potter (again ) and this question popped up. If anyone knows anything or has anyother questions, please post them!

I think Butterbeer is like root beer, or maybe a fictional drink made up by J.K. herself, like pumpkin juice ( ).

I dont think that butterbeer is supposed to be like any drink that is in the real world, i think its just an invention like all of the other food products in HP. I was thinking though that it cant be alcoholic otherwise students wouldnt be able to drink it unless they dont have any laws about drinking in the wizarding world hmm...

There are a number of recipes out there for Butterbeer but this one is my favourte. I haven't tried it, but I just get the right feeling about it from the way it looks in the picture.

Butterbeer.... In fact I love this whole site, with it's recipes that would make any Hogwarts party go with a bang!

Other variations include making Butterbeer with Root beer, butter and cream, Club or cream soda, butterscotch syrup and butter, or a mixture of everything. This site shows four different recipes for Butterbeer including 2 for a warm drink.

As most people were saying, i think that butterbeer is a rootbeer type drink. Yes they do have alcoholic drinks for wizards though? Called Firewiskey. I'm not sure if they said how old you had to be before you are allowed to drink it though?

Well obviously Butterbeer is not alcoholic because the students drink it. But as for if it is an equivalent to a Muggle drink I really don’t know. Many have you have said that you think it is like root beer but can I ask, what is root beer? Is it an American drink? I live in England you see so if it is an American drink that would explain why I haven’t heard of it But I just honestly think that Butterbeer is a drink J.K made up like Pumpkin Juice.

etphonehome
Wow! I never knew you could make Butterbeer! Wow I’m going to have to try those recipes as soon as I can Wow!

Mmmh! I got to try some of those recipes.. I just have a couple of questions: what is club soda, cream soda, and root beer? I am not from neither UK or US and I have feeling, those drinks are mostly known there.. Don't know if I'm right
I must agree with those who say, that butter beer is non alcoholic. The magic world is weird but not that weird
xXNIXXx, I don't think that the students are allowed to drink Firewhisky, but that's no guarantee that they don't do it. Maybe the owners of the bars in Hogsmeade value the sale more than what is legal..?

I'm not a big fan of Wikipedia, but on this occasion they have got it close enough. Thisis a very good discription of Cream Soda and it's worldwide variations. Club soda or soda water, is basically just carbonated water and root beer, well let old wiki to the talking again here!

Anybody got any clue where I can find a stoclist for butterscotch shnapps??

I was having a look at that website previously posted, with all the recipes and stuff. And its really really good. I might use some of them.
I was having a look on the site, and the pumpkin juice sounds so disgusting! I knew it would be made with pumpkins... but it just is like urgh.
Wouldnt be very sweet would it?

Just as a thought maybe butterbeer is like rootbeer with out the root taste maybe she wanted a drink that was like it but not the same for her books pretty much everything is different in the wizarding world

I am going to disagree with your root beer theory for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, JKR always uses things from her past and since I am of the same era, I will go with the cream soda as being the most likely drink to compare to it. Everyone used to drink cream soda back when we were growing up.

Secondly, root beer is predomanantly American, and although we know JK to be worldly wise, rootbeer didn't reach these shores until the late eighties early nineties and is not a popular drink.

I think the inclusion of root beer in a lot of the recipes, is because they have been made up by US fans.

It may have a low percentage of alcohol probably, because if I am not mistaken, I remember Dobby mentioning on GOF that Winky was drunk because she had been drinking too much butterbeer... Probably it only has effect on house-elves.

In my opinion, butterbeer is made up.

I always imagined it to be a bit like very thick ice cream but a bit milky.


it sounds really nice though.... especially warm.......

I always thought about that as well. I thought it was more like cream soda than root beer but i don't know. Either way when ever i read about characters drinking some i always crave it. Hehehe. O well.

Well, I have to agree with Rodrigo about it having a low percentage of alcohol because it gives people an all-over warm feeling, and it gets house elves drunk. When I picture butterbeer, I think of these shots called butterflies. They are made from butterscotch schnops. Schnops itself doesn't have a high concentration of alcohol. At least not when compared to other alcohol products. The name butterbeer justs makes me think of that rich, buttery taste that I associate with Butterflies (the shots ).

Yeah, this is totally what i agree with. I think it has a minute bit of alcohol in it. It would be enought to waste a house elf but not enough to do much damage to a human. Although isn't it weird that when a human consumes alcohol for the first time even if it is a little bit they end up a bit tipsy? Why wouldn't that be the case with the young wizards who drink butterbeer if there was alcohol in it? Wouldn't there be some effect? I don't know now...maybe it is nonalcoholic?

im with all who say that butterbeer has a minute amount of alcohol in it...if it didn't then it would have been just like drinking water to Winky, but weve all seen what state she was in after having 6 bottles...and there isnt a drinking age in Britain (i think, there wasnt the last time i checked, someone please correct me if im wrong), so students having a drink like butterbeer with a very small amount of alcohol in it wouldnt be a problem with any of the teachers or parents....however, firewhiskey would probably be a different story

Has anyone actually tried one of the various internet recipies, if so, best one?

Mod Edit: One liners and short posts are not allowed on the forums, please elaborate in future. Thanks

when i think of butterbeer, i imagine that it's a drink like a rich, buttery root beer with a little bit of alcohol.

Mod Edit: See above edit. Thanks

I think Butterbear is a totally fictional drink. But I've always imagined it to be a bit thick and milky in some sort of tofee - like color

it's funny. whenever i think of butter beer i can almost taste it! even tho it doesn't exist i imagine it as kinda like root beer but with a taste somewhere between a caramel milkshake and bread and butter pudding with custard. milky and foamy with just the tiniest bit of fizz. because it's brewed (obviously because of the name "beer") i would assume it would be slightly alcoholic, but no more than 2%

There actually is a drinking age in the UK. You can drink in pubs with your parents from 16, and you can go buy your first six pack at 18. I think that butterbeer tastes like some kind of butterscotchy creamy soda. And I also remember that it does have a trace amount of alcohol in it. If a young hogwarts student/wizard was trying to get drunk off of butterbeer they would probably get a stomach ache before the buzz kicked in....

thats the word i was trying to think of! butterscotch!! like a werthers original. Mmmmmm yum. and i'm pretty sure that most, if not all, countries would have a legal drinking age. we can't have 12y/o's stumbling home after a night out at the pub now can we.

At home though in the UK, as long as it is in the house, i think people over 13 are allowed to drink alchol

Haha I wish there wasn't ! No the drinking age is 18 (That's drinking anywhere and goes for buying alcohol as well). It is 16 if it is in a restaurant and it is with a meal and it is 5 years old if you are at home and you have parental supervision. Though what parent lets their five year old kid drink alcohol...

I don't think that the UK drinking age would affect them though, wizards have their own laws so the age limits for drinking for muggles would be irrelavent.

It's probably just a drink she made up, I'd never heard of it before reading the books... It wouldn't be root beer based as etphonehome said, it is not widely known in the UK and it is not widely available. I've only heard of it because I lived in America and there is only one supermarket that is near me that sells it.

As for the alcohol content, it probably only has a little bit of alcohol in it, like only 1 or 2 percent, so that would make it okay for school-age children to drink it, but it would probably be strong to an elf.

Yeah, I remember Harry and Co. drinking mead several times. Although I'm not sure if mead is alcohol. Besides in the wizarding world people "come of age" at 17 so drinking laws are probably very different

mead is like beer made from honey, generally served warm. it is also known as honey wine and it is a real thing, not just made up for HP. it is also alcoholic. i'm pretty sure that wizards would not be allowed to drink mead until they had come of age. the few times where it was being drunk was under the supervision of a teacher. but you never saw them walk into madam rosmerta's and order one.

i reckon it probably tastes like alcohol but with a buttery flavour

Wow. You Brits are lucky! Here in America, the drinking age is 21! I can't wait to be 21... sorry, that was off-topic. Anyway, I think Butterbeer is fictional, maybe with a basis in Cream Soda or something.

I always imagined it looked like beer from the SImpsons i think. It might just be Like a beer texture (bubbly?) and kind of be like a kids beer? Dunno, good topic though

I imagine it as some kind of hot choclate to warm the inside as J.K explains that is the sensation you get after drinking it. I think prehaps it taste a little like beer but not to strong because people my age. Well sometimes find the taste of it to strong if you have had a little sip at parties.

Yeah so i think to me it would like some kind of wizard hot choclate.

JK Rowling describle it in an interview with Bon Appetit magazine that she pictures it "to taste a little bit like less-sickly butterscotch". It contains alcohol, but obviously a small amont. I would guess it would be like Shandy in that aspect. Shandy is a drink (in the UK at least) with a very low alcohol level that can be sold to children under 18 (the legal UK drinking age).

i noticed that they drank them at a very young age so i assumed that it didnt contain alcohol... i guess the wizarding law for underage alcohol cunsumption doesnt exist.

It does, Firewhiskey is only sold to people over the age of 17. As I said, Butterbear may be like Shandy in that respect, it contains a low volume of alcohol and like Shandy, it can be sold to people under the legal drinking age.

i dnt know why
but i always think of butter beer because they always drink it warm being some sort of equivialent to hot chocolate or something
im not sayng thats what it is but thats what always seems to come to mind when i read butterbeer

i have no idea what it is i think that it is just a drink that she made for the magical world

At my library, the day before HBP came out, we had a Potter Party and ther was a lot of wizarding world based food -Butterbeer included. Being very daring I drank some and it was delicious! It was cream soda with butterscotch in it. I dont mean to sound traitorous, but Mugglenet has some Potter-based food recipies under Rosemerta's Recipies, one of them being a recipie for warm Butterbeer.

I think its made up, Im gonna truy putting butter and beer together, then shaking it up, Ill let you know how it tastes!

It is probably made up, but I've seen recipes online for making butterbeer, and read some good reviews on them too... Just like with licorice wands, pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes...

I think it doesn't contain alcohol though, specially because at Hogsmeade they sell it to young wizards.

Whenever I think of butterbeer, the image of a yellow rootbeer comes to me... Maybe it's because when I first found out about it when I was a kid, my cousins and I loved to pretend we were grown ups, so cool drinking it... Those were some nice times... Hahaha!

I am not sure what it could actually be, but it sounds pretty good! I actually remember Googling "Harry Potter parties" and they had recipes for butterbeer AND pumpkin juice!! I haven't tried it, but I had assumed that it was like a root beer hot toddy. I think I'm gonna have to go re-discover that site and make some!!

Uh, old topic!

I thought that Butterbeer tasted like... butter, I don't know, a bit like cocoa butter, don't know if anyone has heard of it, it's a kind of lipstick balsam for lips. But then in GoF, Harry (or Ron) says it's not a very strong drink, in regards to Winky being drunk, and Dobby says it is for an elf. And then Harry says that Ron and Hermione's attidude may change at Slughorn's party with the low lights and Butterbeer effects. So maybe it's a bit like cider. But if it's so, I think it's very irresponsible from teachers and parents to let them drink that. However, in old cultures people allowed kids to have alcohol, so maybe that's why JK considered that, or something.

And I've always imagined pumpkin juice as our tereré: it's a drink with a kind of... grass, called yerba, and orange juice, and it's drank really cold. But I don't know if I'd like... pumpkin juice.

Really, there are recipes?? Has anyone tried?

Butterbeer has existed long before Harry Potter and was once a classic British drink (I don't know about the classic part, but a guess), however Rowling was the one who introduced it the way she did and unfortunatly did not supply the recipe for it.

Really? Oh, wow!
Well, now in the upcoming theme park for Harry Potter, in Orlando, they will sell Butterbeer! Along with other fancy sweets from the wizarding world. So, if anybody is lucky enough as to go, you will have to tell us how it is! ^^
I wish I could go :/

Mmmm yeah I've read some recipes for Butterbeer and I read about it being a real drink too. It sounds sooo good. I always imagined it to taste like what it apparently does- butter, or butterscotch, very sweet and warm and yummyyy!
What I'm very angry about is the scene in the HBP movie with Hermione, well, enjoying her Butterbeer. I knew it was strong for house-elves, but I thought it had barely any effect on humans? But apparently it does, so... eh. I dunno. The wizarding world always seemed a bit medieval to me, so maybe their laws aren't as tight as ours. But I still find that HBP scene completely pointless. But it got saved by Katie's incident... then ruined by Hagrid's dreadlocks. Anyway!

I want to taste it.

I've always imagined Butterbeer to taste like... really sweet butterscotch... I'm dying to taste it. I used to drool all over the HP books whenever it mentioned Butterbeer ...
I just found a recipe for Butterbeer here. *drools* I am so trying that out!

I don't think Butterbeer is actually made from alcohol, or they wouldn't have sold it, would they...?
Or there might be a very small quantity of alcohol, as Dobby says it's not strong or humans, but it is for a house elf... Maybe house elves are more... sensitive to alcohol?
:/