![Picture of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban](https://i0.wp.com/umbraexlibris.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG_0937.jpg?resize=220%2C256&ssl=1)
Harry drank deeply. It was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted and seemed to heat every bit of him from the inside”
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
When you think of popular food and drinks in books, the number one thing that comes to mind is Butterbeer from Harry Potter. This drink was first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In year 3 at Hogwarts, students are allowed to go to Hogsmead with a signed permission slip from parents or guardians. Unfortunately, Harry cannot get his guardians signature so he isn’t allowed to go. Hermonie and Ron go to the Three Broomsticks and order butterbeer wishing they could bring some back to Hogwarts for Harry. Later in the book, Harry sneaks under his cloak of invisibility to go to Hogsmead. He orders a butterbeer and describes it as, “a little less sickly butterscotch.”
Butterbeer became popular enough, when Universal Studios opened their Wizarding World of Harry Potter they included a place to buy your very own butterbeer. Their recipe contains no alcohol so it can be enjoyed by everyone. There are many different versions you can find online for Universal Studios butterbeer. The main ingredients for the nonalcoholic version often are variations of cream soda with caramel extract and butter extract or instead of caramel, butterscotch syrup, topped with whipped cream and butterscotch syrup.
At Umbra Ex Libris we wanted to try our hand at creating our very own alcoholic butterbeer recipe. We experimented with different ingredients and different amounts to bring you the best Alcoholic Butterbeer we could come up with. We wanted to try different ingredients but stick to what we knew Universal made theirs with. So, when coming up with our recipe we bought cream soda and also root beer. Our recipe says to add half a can of root beer and half a can of cream soda, but you can adjust this to your taste. Some people like the Butterbeer sweeter and for this just use a full can of cream soda. We liked it best with a quarter can of root beer soda and 3 quarters cream soda. The root beer gives it that deeper flavor we love.
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For the alcohol we knew we had to include Dekuyper Buttershots Schnapps Liqueur for that classic butterscotch taste. You can’t have butterbeer without butterscotch considering Harry describes the drink tasting like butterscotch. We also knew we needed another alcohol of some sort to really make it a great drink so we grabbed flavored vodka. We accidentally bought whipped cream vodka when we meant to grab vanilla vodka because the bottles looked so similar, but we made the drink with both types and found we enjoyed the whipped cream vodka more than vanilla. If you want a cinnamon taste in this drink you can also had half a shot of Fireball or your favorite cinnamon liqueur.
The topping is fully optional but we recommend adding at least whipped cream on top to make it look all pretty. Butterscotch syrup topping to go on top of the whipped cream also brings it to a new level.
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For substitutions you can use all root beer or all cream soda. Whipped cream vodka can be hard to find so you can use vanilla vodka instead. There is no good substitute for the Butterscotch Schnapps so we recommend not substituting this ingredient. If you have to though it can be replaced with butterscotch extract and simple syrup but you will not get the wonderful alcohol flavor.
To make 2 at a time you can just dump both cans together with 2 shots of buttershots and 2 shots of whipped cream vodka and mix well. Pour into two glasses for you and your favorite witch or wizard to enjoy together.
Alcoholic Butterbeer
Ingredients
- 6oz Rootbeer
- 6oz Cream Sodda
- 1.5 oz. Dekuyper Buttershots Schnapps Liqueur
- 1.5 oz. Smirnoff Whipped Cream Vodka
- Optional Ingredients: 0.75oz Fireball, Ice, Whipped Cream (for topping), Butterscotch Sundae Topping
Directions
- Add ice to a tall glass.
- Add the cream soda and root beer.
- Add the Buttershots and whipped cream vodka.
- Stir well.
- To top it off add the whipped cream on top with the butterscotch topping.
- Enjoy!
As always, happy reading!