Harry Potter Butterbeer Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Did J.K. Rowling approve Butterbeer? ›

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.

Cream soda provides the cold, fizzy element, and when combined, the trio yield a drink that is sweet and refreshing. To create the topping, heavy whipping cream is joined by butterscotch syrup and whipped. Put it all together, and you've got a drink fit for Potter and his pals.

INGREDIENTS: carbonated water, sugar, glucose syrup, pear juice concentrate, natural flavours, acid (lactic acid), fermented ginger root extract (water, glucose syrup, ginger root, pear juice concentrate, yeast), concentrate (apple, carrot, hibiscus), quillaia extract.

The Universal Studios Orlando's butterbeer recipe is still top secret, but according to the books, it is made out of butterscotch, sugar, and water.

It was served at numerous locations in the wizarding world and had a very slight alcoholic content.

After drinking at the bar, Hermoine is shown to be tipsy, putting her arms around her male companions. Some criticized the film for portraying alcohol use as a way to deal with stress and sorrow.

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.

If this is your first Butterbeer, I'd recommend the cold version. As a Harry Potter fan, this drink comes the closest to how I imagined it. It can be served in a regular cup or a souvenir tankard.

Cold Butterbeer is mostly reminiscent of cream soda – yes, including the fizz – with a whipped topping that typically results in social-media-worthy mustaches; frozen, meanwhile, is more like a slushie that has been known to cause more than the occasional brain freeze.

Butterbeer had a slight alcoholic content and although was safe for children to drink, it could affect creatures (such as house-elves) if consumed in to high a quantity. Harry enjoyed his first Butterbeer in Hogsmeade.

What flavor is Harry Potter Butterbeer? ›

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.

Gillywater is a fun, Harry Potter inspired drink that looks a bit something that crawled out of the sea, but tastes refreshingly delicious! In the Harry Potter books and movies, Gillyweed is a magical plant that allows one to breathe underwater.

Butter beer is delicious but hard to describe. It definitely has a butterscotch flavor to it, creamy and cold. A definite "must try" if you're going to Universal. If you are staying at a Universal hotel, you can get into the park an hour earlier and that is the best time for Harry Potter rides.

Affiliation. Diagon Alley was a cobblestoned wizarding alley and shopping area located in London, England behind a pub called the Leaky Cauldron. Inside the alley was an assortment of restaurants, shops, and other sights. All items on the Hogwarts supply list could be bought at Diagon Alley.

J.K. Rowling did not base butterbeer on a real drink (although there were historical drinks called buttered beer or ale), she simply made it up for the books. When Rowling was asked by Bon Appétit magazine in 2002 what it tastes like, she said: “I made it up. I imagine it to taste a bit like less sickly butterscotch.

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).

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Winky is found in a drunken state, having consumed copious amounts of Butterbeer. Her reaction to the drink indicates that it does contain alcohol, albeit likely in a small quantity, as house-elves are small and described as having a low tolerance for alcohol.