# 2 second harry potter question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344 "2010-07-12T00:35:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/21 "2010-07-12T05:15:33Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The same reason non-alcoholic beer still has alcohol in it (and kids that pound the stuff will get a little buzzed from it). It’s just part of the process of making it. You’re forgetting that this is a world with magic. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/22 "2010-07-12T05:29:20Z")
“Ahhh… I’lll fuck you in the ass with magic and you will never even know it.” - Doug Henning ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/23 "2010-07-12T06:03:10Z")
I should probably stipulate that I have not read HP, but have seen the films quite extensively. Not my cup of tea… I’m afraid I will never read them, and that is said without regret. But I am basing this on the simple fact and shared cultural similarities experienced; I know that around 1/2 to 2/3ds of the Student body in the German Hochschule(s) that I attended came back from Lunch or Pause having imbibed some alcoholic beverage in kind. And those were some of the best students… ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/24 "2010-07-12T06:40:28Z")
Not that this would answer the question, but - I recently attended a birthday party that had a Harry Potter theme, and they served an alcoholic butterbeer. (To clarify, it was mainly adults in attendance). This version was unlikely to have been ‘authentic’ as it was too strong for children, but it was intriguingly tasty. A bit like a whiskey sour with a creamy, buttery side to it. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/25 "2010-07-12T09:12:25Z")
The butterbeer double bubble boil and trouble… Kind of like a buttery nipple boilermaker. Double payload… Butterscotch DeKuyper’s, and Irish Cream jiggered in a shot glass dropped into a red beer, followed by a chaser of Peach Schnapps. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/26 "2010-07-12T10:55:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > IIRC, in England there are two different drinking ages, one for strong drinks and another (lower) age for weak drinks, so teenagers can drink beer. And besides, we’re not dealing with the laws of Muggle England anyway, but the laws of the wizarding community, and we know that the age of majority for wizards is lower than for Muggles (17 vs. 18), so the drinking ages might well be different, too. Just to clarify: The only exception to the standard drinking age of 18 (in licenced premises) is for 16 or 17 year olds who are allowed to drink beer, wine or cider at a meal with adults present, but they may not buy the alcohol themselves (in Scotland 16-17 y/olds can buy their own alcohol with a meal, even if adults are not present). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/27 "2010-07-12T20:10:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Why have alcohol in it at all if it’s in such low quantities? Well, it’s not the only thing in the HP universe that doesn’t make sense. The traditional recipes for all carbonated drinks (including the likes of ginger ale and root beer) get the carbonation the same way that beer does, from fermentation. And any fermentation process that produces carbon dioxide will also produce alcohol. If you’re making actual beer, you ferment it a lot more, and have to vent off most of the gas. If you’re making ginger ale or root beer (or, presumably, butterbeer), then you don’t vent it and only let it ferment just enough to get enough gas, which leaves it with very little alcohol. You probably could come up with a modern butterbeer recipe that doesn’t have alcohol in it, analogous to modern root beer, but do you really think wizards are going to fuss about with CO[sub]2[/sub] canisters? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/28 "2010-07-13T07:51:30Z")
There is a brand in the UK called Fentimans, which sells traditional brewed soft drinks (lemonade, cole, ginger ale etc). As you can see from [the label](http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2009/10/28/1256758640761/British-lemonade-sparks-a-002.jpg) their Traditional Victorian Lemonade drink contains a small amount of alcohol from the natural fermentation process (“not more than 0.5% by volume”, and it’s actually closer to 0.3%). This miniscule amount was enough for the drink to be banned in Maine as “imitation liquor”, prompting much ridicule this side of the pond, although it’s consistent with Maine’s policy (where non-alcohol beers are also _verboten_ for under-21s due to their residual alcohol content). Full story [here](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/30/fentimans-lemonade-maine-alcohol-row) (from 2009) ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/29 "2010-07-13T09:59:05Z")
I don’t know if it’s actually true or not, but Fentimans also claims that other soft drinks such as Coke contain minute amounts of alcohol that fall under labeling requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344/30 "2010-07-13T10:52:31Z")
Well, in the Universal theme park’s World of Harry Potter, butterbeer is non-alcoholic, or at least has similar alcohol to a Killians. That is another 2 (3) second answer. Btw, it is delicious to the max. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-second-harry-potter-question/546344.md?page=1)