Butterbeer

> Enjoy a foaming mug of this popular wizarding beverage.
>
> Description of Butterbeer, Pottermore

**Butterbeer** was a popular wizarding beverage described as tasting "*a little bit like less-sickly **butterscotch***". It was served at numerous locations in the wizarding world and had a very slight ***alcoholic*** content. Students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would often buy it when visiting Hogsmeade.Template:Food And Beverage

## Description

Butterbeer was served cold in bottles and hot in "*foaming tankards*". In Hogsmeade, it's sold at the ***Three Broomsticks Inn*** and the ***Hog's Head Inn***, although the fact that the latter pub's stock was described as "very dusty" suggested that it was not sold there very often. In Diagon Alley, the drink had been known to be sold at the ***Leaky Cauldron***. It was made out of butterscotch, sugar and water.

### Alcoholic content

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Butterbeer may have had a very slight ***alcohol*** content, which could get house-elves in a drunk-like state, though an ***antidote*** to this existed. This is likely due to house-elves having both significantly smaller bodies as well as a slightly different body chemistry than humans, thus increasing their vulnerability to the effects of alcohol in any volume. It seemed to have a less pronounced effect on humans than smaller creatures such as house-elves, but humans could still fall "*under the influence*" of it.

## History

> Why don't we go and have a Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, it's a bit cold, isn't it?
>
> Butterbeer was served at the Three Broomsticks Inn, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

## Behind the scenes

* ***Michael Gambon***, the actor who had portrayed Albus Dumbledore since the ***third film***, once said that the first thing he would do when he got to Template:WWHP theme park was to order eight pints of Butterbeer. He stated: "...it is not alcoholic, and it is refreshing."
* Executive Chef of Template:W, Steve Jayson commented that Butterbeer is "real comforting and nice and smooth going down".

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* Butterbeer at Template:WWHP could be served either cold with a taste similar to cream soda or frozen as a slush with a butterscotch-like foam on top. One may also purchase it either in a regular plastic cup or in a collectable mug. As of ***12 December*** ***2012***, over five million glasses of Butterbeer were served at the park, an event that was commemorated by the park giving away free Butterbeers to one thousand guests that day. Butterbeer was also served at Template:MHP.

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* "A tankard of Butterbeer" was one out of the thirty-two options generated by an old feature on Template:PM, "Wonderful wizarding world happiness generator", which was about things that could cast away the Blue Monday blues.
	+ The description was "a warming glass of Butterbeer is exactly what you need to thwart your winter blues".
* Butterbeer may be based on Buttered Beer, which was a real drink. The earliest reference to Buttered Beer was from, *The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin* published in London in 1588 A.D., made from beer, sugar, ***eggs***, nutmeg, cloves and butter back in Tudor times. Another old recipe for Buttered Beer, published by Robert May in 1664 A.D., from his recipe book, *The Accomplisht Cook* called for liquorice root and aniseeds to be added. British celebrity chef Template:W recreated it for his Tudor Feast.
* Alternately, Butterbeer's name may also be an homage to Barliman Butterbur, the owner of The Prancing Pony, an inn and pub prominently featured in J. R. R. Tolkien's *The Lord of the Rings* as the location where Frodo and the other hobbits first meet Aragorn.
* Butterbeer remains a popular drink with *Harry Potter* fans. Several fan-created recipes can be found online. These recipes vary between being non-alcoholic for children and teetotallers and being highly alcoholic in their composition.

### Real world interpretations

#### Non-alcoholic

* Template:WWHP sells bottled non-alcoholic Butterbeer.
* Template:MHP exhibition serves Butterbeer either in plastic cups, or in souvenir tankards. They also sell Butterbeer ice cream in cornets or in a souvenir cup.
* Reed's Inc produces *Flying Cauldron* Butterscotch Beer.
* The Starbucks secret menu boasts a "Butterbeer Frappuccino" which is a Creme Frappuccino with 3 pumps each of caramel and toffee nut syrup and caramel drizzle on top.
* In March of 2017, Yuengling's Ice Cream debuted a flavour inspired by Butterbeer. The ice cream is made from half buttercream ice cream, half butterscotch ice cream, and twisted with a butterscotch swirl.

#### Alcoholic

* There are many alcoholic recipes available online, most include butterscotch sauce and rum.

## Appearances

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* Template:OOTP Template:Mention
* Template:HBP
* Template:DH
* Template:DH
* Template:SODMM
* Template:QTA Template:Mention
* Template:PM
* Template:WW
* Template:WWHP
* Template:WBP Template:Mention
* Template:FBC
* Template:HM
* Template:WU Template:Mention
* Template:PAS
* Template:MA
* Template:HL Template:Mention
* Template:AMHL

## Notes and references

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Template:HBP *DVD 2nd-Disc Special Feature: Template:WWHP* - Sneak Peak
2. ↑ Wizarding World of Harry Potter celebrates 5 millionth Butterbeer served at Orlando - snitchseeker.com