Butterbeer

**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.

## Description

Butterbeer was served cold in bottles and hot in "foaming tankards."In Hogsmeade, it's sold at The Three Broomsticks and The Hog's Head, 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.

At the Hog's Head, customers were charged two sickles per Butterbeer (£0.60 approximately), but it was not certain whether this was a universal price for the drink, or if the price of the drink varied from location to location.

An extra sweet variant was brewed by Madam Rosmerta. At least some of the ingredients she uses include Sugar Shrub, Mallowsweet, and Moondew. It is unclear if these ingredients are required only for the 'Extra Sweet' version, or if these are standard ingredients in normal butterbeer. Another variant of Butterbeer was named Butterbeer 1707, which was considered very rare and could be ordered for delivery.

### Alcoholic content

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.

In 1996, Harry Potter wondered what Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger might do at Professor Horace Slughorn's Christmas Party "*under the influence of Butterbeer*", which indicated that it could lower inhibitions, perhaps like alcohol. Winky, a house-elf, took to getting a drunk-like state off of Butterbeer after losing her job with the Crouch family — an addiction from which she never fully recovered.

## History

> "*Why don't we go and have a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, it's a bit cold, isn't it?*"
> ― Butterbeer is served at the Three Broomsticks Inn[source]
>
>

Butterbeer is served foaming hot in mugs and cold in a bottle and bottle of Butterbeer in the Hog's Head costs 2 Sickles each.

In the 1985–1986 school year, the Three Broomsticks Inn created a very sweet version of Butterbeer, which was very well-received by drinkers. By the 1986–1987 school year, the Butterbeer 1707 was a variant of Butterbeer which could be ordered and purchased in the Three Broomsticks Inn. It was a very rare vintage beverage kept in a barrel in the back room of the Inn.

House-elves could get drunk off Butterbeer, as Winky often did. During Harry Potter's fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Winky was often found drunk within the kitchens after she was sacked by Barty Crouch Snr. For a house-elf, the drink was much stronger and Dobby would take her to the Room of Requirement to find antidotes there. It was considered shameful for an elf to consume such large quantities of Butterbeer.

Lupin was surprised that Harry had tasted Butterbeer when, as far as the professor knew, Harry had never been to Hogsmeade. This was untrue as Harry had been to Hogsmeade previously when he sneaked in and had tried Butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks. This suggests that butterbeer was not readily available in Hogwarts castle; Harry lied that Ron and Hermione brought some back from Hogsmeade for him. However, after Harry became a Hogwarts champion in the Triwizard Tournament and then again after he won the First Task, the Gryffindor common room was awash with the stuff.

Butterbeer was served at the Yule Ball and at Bill and Fleur's wedding. It could be found at the refreshment table, with the Refilling Charm placed upon it.

Luna Lovegood often wore a necklace of Butterbeer corks throughout her time at Hogwarts, and many of the other students in attendance found it to be strange and would often laugh in regards to it.

Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, once planned an after-exam party and talked about how many "black-market Butterbeers" they would have needed.

The mascot of the Ballycastle Bats, Barny the Fruitbat, appears in Butterbeer advertisements with the slogan "Barny says: I'm just batty about Butterbeer!"

Gwenog Jones enjoys "relaxing with friends, drinking butterbeer, and listening to "The Weird Sisters".