Harry Potter Butterbeer Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is Harry Potter Butterbeer made of? ›

A simple brown sugar and butter syrup gets topped with cream soda and a dollop of cream in this wildly popular drink. Next time you are having a Harry Potter movie marathon, book club meeting, or even a Halloween party, pull out all the stops with this sweet drink that even Harry, Ron, and Hermione would approve of.

However, the typical butterbeer recipe has some combination of cream soda and butterscotch syrup, topped with whipped cream. Sometimes other ingredients are thrown in the mix, like butter extract or rum extract but we'll just have to keep guessing when it comes to Universal's secret recipe.

Grown-up wizards and adult muggles alike can make this famous Diagon Alley treat right in their own cauldrons, no spells required. The Butterbeer begins with equal parts vanilla vodka and butterscotch schnapps, which both supply the boozy quotient in this recipe.

The version sold at The Wizarding World was tasted and approved by Rowling herself. Visitors to the park see a large wooden barrel that bears the word "BUTTERBEER" as soon as they enter, and they can buy it from a street cart and inside The Three Broomsticks restaurant and Hog's Head pub.

But its origin dates back much further than J.K. Rowling's films. Butterbeer, or “Buttered beere” as it was described in 1594, has existed for many centuries. At the time of the Tudors, beer was already a typical and commonly consumed drink.

Just as Rowling imagined, there's more flavor here than sugar, or at least that's how it drinks — essentially, you're getting a butterscotch cream soda with a float of something like toasted marshmallow crème; there's no escaping the inevitable foam mustache, and while you can try, you'll never outdrink the head.

Calling all Potterheads! You don't have to make a trip to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley to get your hands on some delicious Butterbeer. Flying Cauldron's butterscotch cream soda, previously only available in a glass bottle option, is now sold in new 16-ounce aluminum cans for on-the-go magic.

Cold Butterbeer reminds me of a cream soda with shortbread and butterscotch flavors. It comes topped off with a thick layer of whipped cream. Tad and Lily often compete to see who has the best foam mustache. If this is your first Butterbeer, I'd recommend the cold version.

In all of its various manifestations, Butterbeer is an interesting interplay between the flavors of cream soda and butterscotch, with a sweet, frothy topping usually firmly in place.

In the Harry Potter series, several instances imply Butterbeer contains a low level of alcohol. Particularly in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, there are subtle hints about its effects. One notable moment is when Hermione Granger appears slightly tipsy in the film adaptation after consuming butterbeer.

Is butterscotch beer the same as butter beer? ›

The Verdict

While the Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Beer is not officially branded as butterbeer due to trademark reasons, it stands as a remarkable tribute to the beloved magical drink. For those who have tasted the butterbeer at Universal Studios, Flying Cauldron offers a nostalgic return to those cherished moments.

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.

Hermione Granger inviting Harry Potter to the Three Broomsticks Inn. Butterbeer is a popular wizarding beverage described as tasting "a little bit like less-sickly butterscotch."

The 150 recipes in Bucholz's cookbook are classic versions of some of the foods cited in the “Harry Potter” books. But because of copyright rules, dishes named by Rowling, including butterbeer, could not be used in the “unofficial” cookbook.

Royalty Payments

Every time you purchase a Butterbeer, licensed product, on-ride photograph, or even a bottle of Gillywater from one of the Wizarding World lands at a Universal Park around the world, a percentage of that sale will go directly to the rights holders (Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling).

Butterbeer in the Harry Potter series implies a low alcohol content, as seen through subtle hints and the reactions of characters like Hermione and Winky. At Universal Studios, Butterbeer is non-alcoholic to create an inclusive experience for fans of all ages, prioritizing accessibility and family-friendliness.

Butterbeer is a non-alcoholic beverage reminiscent of shortbread and butterscotch and is suitable for those with gluten, wheat, and nut allergies. The unique blend of top-secret ingredients makes for a special and refreshing drink evocative of the beverage found in the Wizarding World.

In the books, Butterbeer is described as having a very slight alcoholic content. Of course, in the parks and in pretty much all homemade recipes it's made alcohol-free. Butterbeer was also a real drink in England called “Buttered Beer” in the 1500s. It was made from beer, sugar, eggs, nutmeg, and cloves.

These barrels contain the popular wizarding drink, Butterbeer. It is served both cold and hot and has a slight alcoholic content that seems to impact house-elves much more than humans.