My Version of Butterbeer

Posted by Judy on 17 July 2011 in Eat | 0 comments

It all ends here… Ok maybe not, but for the Harry Potter movie franchise, it all ended Friday at midnight when part 2 of the Deathly Hallows movies came out. To celebrate the end of the much beloved movies series, I decided to try my hand at making a version of butterbeer. Butterbeer is the fictional drink from the books and a favorite amongst the various characters.

The Harry Potter theme park at Universal Orlando Resorts actually serves their JK Rowling approved concoction, but seeing as the recipe for the drink is a closely guarded secret and I don’t have the inclination to go all the way to the theme park just for a sip, I had to imagine what the drink is and make my own. From what I’ve read the drink at Universal contains no milk or dairy products and no alcohol.

I researched different recipes on the internet, some include cider vinegar (!?), butter, copious amounts of butterscotch syrup. I am not looking for a litteral butter drink, if I were I would be having a butter tea. The recipes I saw online were also for clear sodas with foam on top. I wanted something fizzy, sweet but not too sweet and creamy. The creamy criteria pretty much kiboshed any notions of a clear soda. According to the Harry Potter books the drink gave you a buzz when you drink it, so mine needs to have some alcohol in there. Of course if you are making it for kids, omit the alcohol.

My version of butterbeer is a modified version of an egg cream, hence no slaving over the stove and no need to make the foam. Make sure you use whole milk as skim and 1% will not foam properly to give you that foamy head.

On a side note, I know the picture I took is not the best I have ever taken, but truthfully I am horrible at taking drink pictures. Yes, the foam is missing in my picture too, I had used up all the whole milk while doing this experiment and only had skim left by the time I took out my camera :/

Butterbeer à la Culinary Escapade

Approximately 1/2 cup cold whole milk
1 cup bottled seltzer or club soda
2 to 4 tablespoons butterscotch syrup (depending on how sweet you like it)
a few drops of vanilla essence
Rhum to taste

Method

Pour 1/2 inch of cold milk into a beer mug or tall soda glass. Add seltzer or club soda to within 1 inch of the top of the glass; stir vigorously with a long spoon (this will cause it to become white and bubbly with a good head of foam).

Very gently pour 2 tablespoons of butterscotch syrup slowly down the inside of the glass; briskly stir with a long spoon only at the bottom of the glass where the butterscotch sits. You should have about an inch of pure white foam top. Do not mix too much or the foam dissapears.

This is not a drink designed to be nursed, it will go flat quickly.