Alcohol in the Harry Potter Series

[Artaxerxes]

It doesn't really bother me. But if it bothers other people, I am sure they can live with it.

[emerald eyes]

I've never really thought of Butterbeer being anything other than something akin to Rootbeer. Living in the US, the ages for alcohol is different then the UK but I'm not banking on anyone under the legal age to claim the HP drove them to start drinking b/c the students in the stories may or may not have some at certain times. Although people nowadays claim some pretty outlandish things! Hopefully that's not one of them!

[ImmortalGoddess]

I was very surprised that some people where bothered by the alcohol in the books, considering none of the students are drinking huge amounts of alcohol and getting rotten drunk.

[Drusilla]

It's so silly, I can't believe it's even an issue. I'm fairly sure no Brit raised it.

To be honest, I don't think the Butterbeer and other alcohol references should go. It isn't as if Harry & Co. are lying around drunk all day and then doing brilliant work (like the early output of the Gallagher brothers- but hey, that's a different story). Butterbeer itself sounds to me like something that's the strength of about a Bacardi Breezer- alcopop, no more. No one except house-elves can get drunk on a bottle (or even two) of the stuff. And taking references to alcohol out of the story just smacks of pandering to something very, very stupid.

[SilviaRoggers]

I'm not concerned about it because it's not pop up in lots of scene in the book so it doesn't really influent people...

[Hes]

You know I always think of butterbeer as more butter then anything else, although drinking butter just doesn't seem to tasty to me either. Well it's more then logical adult characters drink alchol and if it's just mentioned it's okay I think.

I don't see the fuzz about it really, adults make more of it, while the kids who are "vunerable" don't pay attention to details like alcohol at all. Only when adults do draw their attention to it, they might.

[FrenchHermy]

To be honest, I never spotted references to alcohol. Well, of course, I spotted the Butterbeer, but in my mind, it was just a name, it wasn't real beer... (Who would mix beer with butter? It would be really disgusting ) Winky, however, seemed to be drunk because of that, so there must be alcohol... But not very much, in my opinion!
About the wine, in HBP after the burial, Hagrid and Slughorn drank a lot of it, but Harry just seemed to drink a glass, not more, unless I'm mistaken... At least, he didn't drink much...

[greenphoenix5]

having alcohol never really seemed to have an effect on me in the books. i was always like ok some adults drink wine, but hardly beer. they drink more meads and stuff like that. i never thought of butterbeer either as any kind of alcohol. i don't think they would serve it to underage wizards if it did contain any alcohol within it. i always thought of it as a kind of sweet sort of drink that was just called butter"beer" for fun. i don't know but it never has really bothered me and all. everyone is growing up so it's normal if they try alcohol adn whatnot. i mean harry in the sixth book had some wine and that really didn't effect him much but then again he didn't drink very much. i rather think that adding alcohol to the books makes the books better and more mature and i am perfectly fine with any sort of refernce of alcohol that is within the book because for me, jk knows best!

[LuvHP_001]

What I wonder is why did JK include it in the book? I guess to show that they're growing up.

[greenphoenix5]

Originally Posted by LuvHP_001

What I wonder is why did JK include it in the book? I guess to show that they're growing up.

yes and also these aren't childrens books anymore...they have become more mature books as the series has progressed. there's snogging, language here and there, so why not alcohol.

[LuvHP_001]

Originally Posted by greenphoenix5

yes and also these aren't childrens books anymore...they have become more mature books as the series has progressed. there's snogging, language here and there, so why not alcohol.

Good point. Well there's defintely been language since the first book (Ron's favourite words=Bloody hell).

[NoDayBut2Day]

Well, the real alcohol is only offered them by teachers, isn't it? And the kids hardly drink any more than sips. I wouldn't be influenced by Slughorn's drinking, as it was used for comic relief.

I share the opinion of a lot of others when I say that I think Butterbeer is a lot like Root Beer- the beer is just in the name to attract people. I thought that Winky just got drunk because house elves, well aren't human so they have different weaknesses than humans.

[crookshanks16]

I don't think I ever really noticed it. I pretty much just thought that butterbeer was similar to rootbeer. Firewhisky is deffinatly alcoholic, but it never really bothered me.

As for influencing teens and kids, I don't really think so, not me anyway. It's not like I'm going to start drinking because my favorite character got smashed.

[brildenlanch]

People seem to think that anyone thats not British would have a problem with this. Im here in the US, and my mom would give me a little bit of beer or rum (and I stress little) when I was around 15-16. I've never heard anyone complain about the consumption of alcohol in the HP books, I've never even given it a second thought. I was personally never big on alcoholic beverages, I prefer um...herbal supplements. We all know Dumbledore likes his sensi

As far as Winky getting wasted on butterbeer, I assume it was just because the House Elves are so small. If you give a 5yo a beer, he'd get hammered, whereas it wouldn't have hardly any effect on a larger person.

[tapdancer_]

I think that it is done in a tactful manner to the point where you don't really notice it. Of course, when the trio was in the Hog's Head bar and Ron said "I bet that the bartender would give me a Firewhisky" you notice it more but he didn't - not that it would have been a big deal if he did. It was only one.

Also, I have come to the conclusion that Butterbeer is like Rootbeer ... non-alcoholic. I only think this because I doubt Lupin would give Harry or any of the kids butterbeers ... and that Madam Rosmerta seems like she would probably flank any student who even orders a Firewhisky.

[muggl3tt3]

I'm not really concerned. It's not like they ever get drunk, or spend their whole time drinking. I think there are more important things for them to worry about, so I don't think alcohol plays that big of a role. Its just a beverage that they occasionally drink.
Professor Trelawney used to drink alcohol too. i never knew that cooking Sherry was alcohol until I listened to a mugglecast, and they said it was. i guess as an adult, she's allowed to drink, so its no big deal...

[tapdancer_]

I really think that Butterbeer is the muggle equivalent of Rootbeer.

As for all the other forms of alcohol used, its not overly-accesive I have no problem with it at all.

[YaMo]

I don't think it really matters that Harry drinks a wine once a year.
But it is rather strange that they start drinking butterbeer at age 13. And seeing Winky gets drunk by drinking butterbeer there has to be some alcohol in it.

[RavenEye]

It would be unusual (in Britain) for a person to have reached 13 without having ever tried alcohol. Butterbeer seems to be a low alcohol drink similar to low alcohol beer: a house-elf could get drunk on it but a 13-year-old wouldn't get drunk that easily.

[FairyNuff]

Originally Posted by RavenEye

It would be unusual (in Britain) for a person to have reached 13 without having ever tried alcohol. Butterbeer seems to be a low alcohol drink similar to low alcohol beer: a house-elf could get drunk on it but a 13-year-old wouldn't get drunk that easily.

It would be a little unusual.

Butterbeer is a little like a drink called Top Deck that we used to get in Britain. It was a lager shandy with about 0.04% alcohol. Nobody could seriously get drunk on it, unless perhaps, you were a house-elf.