Comments on: Butterbeer – Is it Alcoholic?

By: Chris Elder

Chris Elder — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:49:52 +0000

Is butter beer safe for childern in the US under age 21?

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:55:16 +0000

I imagined butterbeer to quite similar in effect to alcopops like WKD or barcardi breezer, to be perhaps about 4% volume.
In Britain you’re allowed to drink in your own home from the age of five, but of course that’s at the parent/guardian’s discretion and not in bars/pubs until 18. Most parents will probably let their children drink alcopops and wine in small amounts when they reach their teens, but not hard liquor.
It doesn’t seem like alcohol is such a big thing in the magical world as it is in the muggle one. There seem to be no clubs for one thing, just pubs or drinking alone.

By: Ariane

Ariane — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:00:33 +0000

They do drink alcohol. Book five describes Sirius as smelling vaguely of alcohol, I remember, and Mundungus is, like, permanently drunk.

It seems to be in the HBP movie too. When Hermione is stumbling all over the place and giggling before Katie gets cursed.

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:35:27 +0000

Ken – instead of using actual butter you could use lactose. Milk stouts are made using a combination of barley malt and lactose derived from milk. Because lactose does not ferment it gives the beer a sweet flavor. As for flavoring I would add it after you ferment the beer. It would be use something alcoholic such as butter scotch schnops or an alcohoholic vanilla extract for a creamy flavor.

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:44:02 +0000

@Heather – I had the same thought. My one worry is that if the recipe contains actual butter, it may not be safe to let it sit out at the temperatures that the yeast needs to work. I’m thinking butterscotch syrup may work though. Please post back with your findings and recipe if you do this!

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:46:51 +0000

I just had an “aha! moment” about Butterbeer. I just picked up a book on making homemade root beer and soda and it turns out that the old process of making root beer is exactly the same as the process of making real beer! The only difference is that you only let the “non-alcoholic” root beer sit for a couple of days before halting the fermenting process. This fermenting process is what produces carbonation in beer. It turns out that sodas brewed this way will contain very tiny amounts of alcohol. So! If butterbeer is brewed with yeast (as its name implies) it would be a carbonated beverage with a very small alcohol content. Our modern root beers are created with syrups and artifically carbonated water, and are therefore totally non-alcoholic. I can’t wait to devise a recipe for actually brewing butterbeer rather than simply adding cream soda to butterscotch! D

By: Day Day

Day Day — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:32:03 +0000

being from the uk I can confirm that the legal drinking age is 18. Just to set things straight.

By: sisik

sisik — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:20:32 +0000

Just in passing, I found your article. Wanted to add a few thoughts. First of all, yes, it’s my understanding that British kids can drink. What’s allowed, I don’t know. However, the kids at Hogwarts are allowed Meade (Ron is even given the poisoned meade by a teacher, after all), but I think that a.) hard liquor is discouraged (Ron wanted to try firewhisky, and wasn’t Dean trying, unsuccessfully to turn water into rum?) and b.) all alcoholic beverages are discouraged in the dorms. I imagine that, although they might be allowed at parties and with adult supervision, they don’t want kids to drink too much and get into fights or ignore their schoolwork. So, although butterbeer and meade might be acceptable, and even allowed like at Christmas dinner and at Slughorn’s party, the kids may not have it in their possession. I believe that, although there was occassionally butterbeer at Gryffindor parties, it was always contraband (smuggled in by the Weasley twins, no less).

I do believe that butterbeer is intended to be mildly intoxicating. Consider it a weak beer, like lower than 3.2: if you don’t “chug” it, it will have little effect on your system, but taken in large quantities (say a “6-pack” in an hour), it can get you mildly drunk.

As for wizards not needing alcohol… there are scenes where the adult wizards drink alcohol, and some of it is strong stuff! How else do we know the term “firewhiskey”?

By: Mick

Mick — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:51:00 +0000

European kids in the middle ages were given ‘near beer’ – a beer that was made from a third fermentation of the drink prepared for adults – therefore, with very low alcohol content – and was much safer than drinking the polluted water.

By: campcook

campcook — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:05:18 +0000

who ever made the label at the top must have thought it was alcohlic to some degree as well, the plants around the crest lokk an awful lot like hops. and i would imagine it would have a very rich deep flavor, that was still sweet ive tried countless recipes for butter beer and havent found one that hasnt left me with out a toothache because of its sweetness!