What Does Butter Beer Taste Like?

If you haven’t at least heard of butter beer, also written butterbeer, you might have been living under a rock or out on a deserted island somewhere.

If you have heard of it, you might be wondering, “what does butter beer taste like?”

What Is Butterbeer?

To begin, what is butter beer?

Many people may think that butter beer was born in the wildly popular J. K. Rowling series Harry Potter.

And then, in many ways, they would be right.

Harry Potter certainly gave new life to butter beer, as once it was introduced in the series, it was brought up repeatedly in following books, and then took on a new life in the films, and then, of course spread to popular culture.

Today, you can find the most popular version of butter beer at Universal Studios Orlando in Florida in the United States and at the Harry Potter photographic exhibition in London in the UK.

J. K. Rowling first introduces butter beer in her book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third in the series.

What’s the truth is that butter beer has been around for much longer than Rowling’s famed series.

Indeed, butter beer was once a common drink in bars and pubs in the UK during the Tudor era, the 1500s.

A book from 1588, called The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin, has a recipe for butter beer we can assume was typical for the time.

The traditional recipe for butter beer called for adding eggs and sugar to British ale. It was a cold-weather beverage, served warm, to heat up your insides, kind of like mulled wine.

The version served today at theme parks is a non-alcoholic, sickly sweet, foamy beverage meant to give you a sugar rush, and a sense that you’re in JK Rowling’s world.

How Butterbeer Is Described in Harry Potter

We know a lot about butter beer as it is described in Harry Potter, except for exactly how it is supposed to taste.

All we get in terms of flavor from JK Rowling in the series is the mention that butter beer is “a little bit like less-sickly butter scotch.”

We do know that it is served warm at the Hog’s Head, at The Leaky Cauldron, and at The Three Broomsticks in Harry Potter’s world. It is also available cold in bottles.

We also know that butter beer in Harry Potter’s world is lightly alcoholic.

There are several references to getting a slight buzz off of butter beer in the series.

In one instance, Harry imagines what might be possible after a few butter beers in Professor Slughorn’s office. He had been on a mission in the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, for Dumbledore to get information out of the professor, and he’s hoping that getting him drunk might do that job.

In an earlier book, The Goblet of Fire, the house elf, Winky, becomes a drunkard by consuming up to six bottles of butter beer a day. And, although Harry notes, “it’s not strong, that stuff,” apparently it’s strong enough to get a house elf drunk in great quantities.

What Does Butterbeer Taste Like?

So, what does butter beer taste like?

It really depends.

If you’re drinking the butter beer from the Tudor era, it likely tastes like a creamy, foamy, warm, spiced, ale.

If you’re drinking the butter beer from Harry Potter, it’s probably closer to a lightly alcoholic cream soda with a hint of butter scotch.

It would come as no surprise to me to find out that J. K. Rowling was indeed drawing on that same butter beer from 500 years ago. The woman clearly does her homework.

And, it makes sense that Harry Potter’s butterbeer is lightly alcoholic, as during that time, in the 1500s, ale was the most common drink of households.

Very low in alcohol, ale was served with virtually every meal to every member of the family as an opportunity to both hydrate and load up on nutrients.

As rivers and streams, as well as other waterways, could not be trusted, because of their potential for contamination, households brewed their own ale, knowing that the alcohol would kill any toxins.

This daily beverage may have been a little on the sweeter side, as it would not have been heavily fermented, which would have led to a higher alcohol content.

Thus, for all we know, Rowling’s butter beer is a nod to a period when a lightly alcoholic, slightly sweet, beverage was served at every meal to people of all ages.

Recipe for Butterbeer

If you’re looking to make your own butter beer, you first have to decide if you want alcohol or not. The alcoholic version will have a low alcohol content and it will be less sweet.

The non-alcoholic version will have no alcohol, of course, but it will be much sweeter.

Alcoholic

1 bottle of British ale
1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup of brown sugar
2 egg yolks
2 1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

To make the beverage, angle a pot to the side as you pour your bottle of British ale in to avoid foaming. Bring the ale to a gentle boil and lower the temperature to a simmer immediately. While you’re waiting for your ale to boil, add your egg yolks to your brown sugar and whisk together. Once you have brought the ale down to a simmer, add the yolks and sugar and stir in completely. Next add your pumpkin pie spice and your unsalted butter and stir until completely dissolved. Finally, using a hand blender, mix your beverage, until it becomes frothy.

To serve, use a spoon to hold back the froth as you pour the liquid into a mug, and then spoon the froth onto the top of the beverage.

Nonalcoholic

For the butter beer:

2 L of cream soda
1/4 teaspoon of caramel extract
1/4 teaspoon of butter extract

For the topping:

1 cup of whipping cream
1/2 cup of butterscotch topping
1/4 cup of powdered sugar

To make the beverage, simply add the cream soda, caramel extract, and butter extract together in a glass and stir gently. To make your whipped topping, using a hand mixer, mix your cup of whipping cream on high speed until it becomes whipped cream, and then add your butterscotch topping and powdered sugar and mix together. Add your topping to your beverage.

That’s it!

Of course, you will find other versions across the Internet, some making the sweet version slightly alcoholic, and some making the alcoholic version slightly sweeter. But this is a great place to start.

Cheers!

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