Not really clear on this from the books.
And also … is it artery-clogging?
It is, Winky (?) the house elf gets drunk from it. Also, one of them (Hermione, I think), says “it’s not strong” which I think also implies that it’s alcoholic, but not very.
JKR never explicitly says it is that I recall, but that’s what I’ve gleaned from the text.
I think it isn’t supposed to be. When she wants to feature an alcoholic drink it is pretty explicit. Winky only gets drunk on it because she is a different species. The kids have been drinking butterbeer freely since they were eleven.
I still think it is, otherwise Hermione would have just said “it’s non-alcoholic” or something, instead of “it’s not strong”. I think that implies it does have some alcohol, though very little.
Maybe it’s supposed to be like old-fashioned homemade rootbeer, which could have a slight amount of alcohol.
[nitpick]Thirteen, actually. Fourteen for Hermione.[/nitpick]
A bit of a nitpick, here: I don’t believe butterbeer is introduced until PoA, when we see the third years making their first trips into Hogsmeade. That means it isn’t readily available to them until they’re 13 or 14. There may be occasions when older students bring some back to the common rooms and share with younger students, but those aren’t necessarily authorized or condoned by the adults.
It’s implied that underage wizards are not allowed to purchase hard liquor, and the first time we see any of them offered anything stronger than butterbeer is in HBP (good mead is fairly potent stuff). However, there may be no age restriction on the sale of weaker beverages. We can’t conclude that it’s nonalcoholic just because the kids drink it.
That’s exactly what how I’ve always though of butterbeer
Yup, but only mildly so. The wizarding world is isolated from the Muggle laws and cheerfully archaic, so there’s no earthly reason why wizards would have any hangups about underage drinking. Further confirmation of this comes from the fact that the kids are starting to “graduate” to mead and wine in HBP and nobody treats it like a big deal.
There was also a line in HBP about something done “under the influence of Butterbeer.” I forget what, but I remember thinking “oh, so it is alcoholic!”
I think they said Mundungus “reeked of butterbeer”, and given his character, I don’t think he’d reek of a nonalcoholic drink.
Personally, I’ve always equated it with something like hard cider, which is a fairly common drink in England (as I understand it).
It’s an alcopop that’s weaker than butterscotch
Considering it’s a wizard beverage, I reckon that there could be an alcoholic and non-alcoholic version that is identical in flavour.
It is a common drink in Britain (and a popular choice for illicit underage drinkers), but the alcohol content is similar to a strong beer – which seems too strong for butterbeer, in the context of the books.
I’ve been imagining the alcohol in butterbeer to be more like the level of a commercial shandy, like Bass shandy – about 0.5% by volume. Not enough to give even a small child a buzz, but possibly more powerful to a house elf.
What’s in butterbeer, anyway? I imagine it’s like a carbonated butterscotch drink, only that sounds a bit horrid when it’s served warm.
Specifically, has J.K. Rowling ever said what’s in it? She must have known what it is she was writing about, so there’s probably an actual recipe for it or something that is close to what she had in mind.
I know you could probably say the same thing about a Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster, but I think it’s different because the ingredients are listed and some of them don’t exist on Earth. I think butterbeer is different.
I agree with Barbarian that it’s something like butterscotch but possibly also mixed with another English beverage, the only mildly alcoholic ginger beer.
Considering Rowling’s fascination with mixing up traditional products (like Spellotape for Sellotape) this wouldn’t surprise me.
There is a non-acoholic version, called “I can’t believe it’s not butterbeer.”