The Real Butter Beer

The second to the last Harry Potter movie came out not too long ago.  I was going to post this then, but I forgot for a while... so, without further ado:  Butter Beer

If you want more Harry Potter recipes, you can check out this book (but it's mostly made for young adults and will not contain my recipe for Butter Beer, because I didn't write the book). Also, I don't actually have this book, but it looked like it might be fun.
I started researching Butter Beer after I first read about it in the Harry Potter books.  According to Mugglenet, this is the recipe for Butter Beer:
Ingredients:
1 cup (8 oz) club soda or cream soda
½ cup (4 oz) butterscotch syrup (ice cream topping)
½ tablespoon butter

Directions:
Step 1: Measure butterscotch and butter into a 2 cup (16 oz) glass. Microwave on high for 1 to 1½ minutes, or until syrup is bubbly and butter is completely incorporated.
Step 2: Stir and cool for 30 seconds, then slowly mix in club soda. Mixture will fizz quite a bit.
Step 3: Serve in two coffee mugs or small glasses

This sounds disgusting to me.  I will admit that I haven't tried it.  But I can imagine it.  Maybe for some people it would taste good.  And that's fine, you go ahead and try it, and I'll believe you if you say you liked it.

Also, I know (from reading the Harry Potter books) that Butter Beer is supposed to "warm you up" because it has ALCOHOL.

In the UK, underage drinking does not get quite the same reaction as it does here in he US.  In much of Europe, adults will allow their children a glass of wine with dinner, it's not a big deal.  In some ways, I agree with this method, because it allows the parents to have some influence on their children's first experiences with alcohol.  And really, who would you rather have your kids learning from? You? Or their friends?  I don't have any problem with people disagreeing with me about this...

I also have no problem with people that want a non-alcoholic version because they don't drink.  That's totally fine, you just can't have my Butter Beer, and I'm sorry for that.

I enjoyed Harry Potter.  I enjoyed the books and the movies (though I did want to kill Harry in the 5th book, but I'm not going to talk about that).  Once I knew about Butter Beer, I tried to think how it would taste.  I thought about what might be in it.  But I didn't ultimately have a break through until I read this: Bacon Vodka.

Now, I know you're wondering: "How did you get a break through in making authentic Butter Beer by reading about Bacon Vodka?"  Well, I'll tell you.

At about the same time, a friend mentioned scotch and cloves in a facebook post, which gave me the idea of combining the two because the Bacon Vodka concept was still fresh in my memory.  I went to the store and bought a bottle of whiskey (cheap stuff because I am living on a tight budget).  I added spices I had in my cupboard and let it sit in a jar for several weeks.  I had vaguely forgotten about it until I remembered that Harry Potter was coming out soon and I remembered my ideas about Butter Beer.  I bought some Butterscotch Schnapps and A&W vanilla cream soda.  I added  the Butterscotch Schnapps to the spiced whiskey and then two tablespoons of my spiced butterscotchy-whiskey to a glass and poured in the cream soda.

It was everything I had ever hoped.  It was delicious.  So for the sake of humanity and all that is delicious, here is the recipe.

***

To make spiced Whiskey:
1 bottle whiskey
3-5 cinnamon sticks
20-25 whole cloves
1/4-1/2 tsp grated nutmeg (or about of quarter to a half of a whole nutmeg)
1 index finger size piece of ginger (or about 1 tsp ground ginger)

Mix the ingredients into the whiskey (I put it all in the bottle, since I wanted to make a lot of spiced whiskey).  Put in a cool dark place for several (about 6) weeks, until it gets very dark brown.  You can technically leave it for longer than six weeks.  Then strain out the sediment from the liquid.  Or you can just strain it whenever you want to make butter beer and leave the cinnamon sticks, cloves, etc until you get to the bottom of the bottle.

***

To make Butter Beer:
1-1 1/2 part Spiced Whiskey
1 1/2-2 parts Butterscotch Schnapps
2-3 Tbsp of the above mixture
1 12-oz can of Vanilla Cream soda


Mix the whiskey and schnapps together, then put 2-3 TBSp of that mixture in the bottom of a cup, pour in the cream soda  and mix well with a spoon.  The exact amounts are somewhat based on your individual taste.  If you like things sweeter, then more schnapps and less whiskey.  Otherwise, vice versa.  You can chill the ingredients first, or leave them at room temperature.  Also, for a creamier option, put 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream in before you add the other ingredients to the cup... it's a really delicious butter beer float!

***

Well, there you have it.  Now you can enjoy a delicious drink.  Well, as long as you are ok drinking alcohol, and want to wait several weeks to drink it.  But that's not my fault.  If you were here visiting me, you would be able to taste a delicious drink.  So it's your own fault for not visiting me, obviously.

I'll just go ahead and put it out there: If you visit me at my apartment, I will give you Butter Beer.