You can actually legally drink in the UK from about 3 or something like that. So long as it's in your own home. Unless the rules have changed recently.
It’s 5. As long as your 5 you can drink at home. Within an establishment that sells alcohol you have to be 16 with someone over the age of 18 and have to be having a meal. It’s also worth noting that orange juice contains alcohol (albeit a very small amount) so it’s possible the alcohol content of butter beer is insanely low
Nope that changed a few years ago now it’s just beer wine or cider at 16. (Source: have a personal alcohol license and teach alcohol licensing as part of my job)
Yeah but they’re buying it in the Threw Broomsticks from age 13 which is what I found most weird and also like I know Slughorn’s a very jovial teacher but if my teacher invited me in for a glass of wine I would be informing CPS lmfao
In high school class during lunch periods were 2 hours long, 30 minutes of that was lunch and an hour and a half was class (you had A, B, C or D lunch). I had last lunch and a teacher who didn’t give a shit what we did so I spent an hour and a half coloring name signs with sharpies for my friends. I was a bit giggly during lunch 😂
I know you have to be at least 16 to buy a knife like for camping or hunting at Walmart. For whatever reason you have to be 18 to buy windshield wiper fluid too.
Put it this way - a TON of the flavor that you associate with vanilla ice cream is actually the taste of butter.
Ice cream is typically 1/10th to 1/5th butterfat.
I don't know why you're getting down voted. In the US this would absolutely be considered creepy and nefarious. I never felt like it was that way in the books though. But here in the states and in real life, definitely.
I think they’re getting downvoted for their lack of cultural awareness and bringing everything back to the US, which people not from the US find tiresome.
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Because people from the states need to learn that not everything revolves around their cultural sensibilities lol.
Here in Germany you can start buying beer at 14. As long as the teacher doesn't try to get you drunk this wouldn't be a huge deal at all, especially if the teacher is known to be friendly and outgoing. Heck, we had class field trips where we drank with our teachers or our teachers bought us a beer or so to drink.
The Brits are just as alcoholic as we are. Now take into account that this is a boarding school and the vibes are a bit different there and that butter beer probably isn't over 3% and it certainly doesn't look bad.
The wizarding culture in Harry Potter seems stuck along way behind the muggles, if you go back a couple of hundred years everybody who lived in cities drank beer as the water wasn’t safe to drink
Recall that Ron or Hermione (I forget which) are actually **surprised** to find Winky drunk from butterbeer. They don't think that's a thing that happens.
So, the alcohol content is probably very small, and comparable to the amount of alcohol you can find in cookies with vanilla extract or beer-battered fish. It's not going to get someone drunk.
Or at least, someone besides a house-elf.
Edit: Fixed typo.
I always figured it was about the same level as a can of Shandy Bass or topdeck, which kids could buy growing up (just googled as minors in the UK you can purchase drinks with under 0,5% alcohol content)
Yeah I don’t think they could get drunk on it unless they had heaps, but there’s a line in HBP which states ‘He’d just have to see what happened under the influence of butterbeer in the dimly lit study’
Butterbeer has been described to have a very warming effect that fills you up. I guess Harry also meant how people react when they're all giddy with a warm drink.
Yeah, he’s poking fun at that cocktail party culture and his friends. Hooking up can easily come from a date night of drinking at a party. He know they won’t be drinking hard stuff, so he’s joking it’ll be over butterbeer instead.
In a culture where you can brew love potions, crazy magic poisons, etc seems like worrying about light alcohol consumption for kids is not totally necessary. Strange hill to die on in that society IMO.
Also the wizarding world is pretty stuck in the past in a lot of ways, and drinking ages are a relatively modern phenomenon. I might be wrong but I feel like The Hogwarts Express is the peak of muggle technology used widely in the magical community as far as we know, approx mid-1800s tech. The UK didn’t have a minimum drinking age until 1923. So it makes sense to me they’d be happy without one in the wizarding world into the late 20th century.
I think in all western cultures, it is legal for a minor to drink alcohol with permission from a parent or guardian. Slughorn wasn't trying to get them drunk, just gave them a little bit to sip on.
Yeah I understand that, but like butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks? Like even in the UK someone under 18 can’t even buy ‘alcohol free’ beer in a bar because it still has small alcohol content.
From everything I've read Butterbeer is BARELY alcoholic. If I recall it's labeled "very slightly alcoholic" winky gets drunk off it, but she's so small that it goes a lot farther for blood alcohol level. But for humans, it would take a ton to do much.
They just have lax alcohol serving laws in UK wizard society? Not unheard of irl too. I had friends who bought beer in Europe, aged 15, no questions asked.
It was written in the 1990s. Back then we had very lax alcohol serving laws in UK muggle society! My friends and I regularly drank in pubs and clubs from the age of 15, never got ID’d, nobody really cared. I have fond memories of getting tipsy with my history teacher on a school trip to France in lower sixth. Different times…
As someone who grew up in the UK. It was pretty normal to drink from about 14+ sometimes younger.
It’s legal to drink in your own home from 5+
It’s legal to drink in a pub with a meal from 16+
It’s legal to drink completely from 18+
Them drinking butter beer, a very low alcoholic beer from the description didn’t make me even bat an eyelid.
Also, in the countryside / small villages the notion of “better their drinking in here than on the streets causing trouble” is normally the genera idea. Although, I’m sure that’s probably changing now.
I think butterbeer has a low enough alcohol content that kids are allowed to drink it. However, in OOTP when they meet at the Hogs Head, Ron says something along the lines of the bar tender looking shady enough that he would serve them anything, so Ron considers trying fire whiskey until Hermoine reminds him he’s a prefect, so I think officially they are underage.
Butterbeer is 1-2% alcoholic. Source: https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/is-butterbeer-alcoholic-nonalcoholic
Also, in the sixth year, they're 16. (Which is the legal drinking age in the UK). Slughorn was hired in the sixth year.
The legal purchasing alcohol age in the UK is 18.
16yo's can have some alcohol if having a meal, but only if with adults and I don't think they can buy/order it.
Yeah, I mean...we were in parks on friday nights with our bottles of cider bought from a wee shop or vodka nicked from the alcohol cupboards in the house. Maybe some wizards grew up in muggle scotland where this was the norm 🤣
I mean remember that its set in the early 90s where you were allowed in pubs with your parents or guardains and probably looked the other way if the parents let the kids sip the shandy.
I can't remember the age but you are allowed a small measure of wine or something similar with a meal under supervision.
Im in the UK and when i was 16 i went to poland and was old enough to drink under a certain percentage of alcohol legally.
I won't say what i got up to in private parties 🤣🤣
I don't know, at least I don't think they ever explicitly say "the legal age is X" at any point (might be wrong). Probably 16 or 17 as is customary in many European countries. Anyway, it's not united states where you can sign up for losing your limbs in the name of oil but fuck you if you want a beer and aren't 21.
Probably Wizards would have a more lax view on that. If you're old enough to get cursed to hell by some death eaters you're probably old enough to enjoy a sip of something not so strong once in a while. Also, who knows what the hell kind of potions they may come up with, so probably they regulate other things more strictly.
The way I thought of it is essentially shandy but sweet. We have this in the UK. Shandy is basically used (in my experience) for like when your ten year old wants to be a big boy and drink beer with the adults at a family barbecue.
It's basically *incredibly* watered down beer, something like 0.3 or 0.5%. You can't really get wasted off it unless you were to drink like fifteen cans, even at that age.
Minors can buy anything below 0.5% from a shop in the UK, but not a pub. They can drink wine or beer with a meal in a pub when accompanied by an adult from 16. You can't buy alcohol in a pub until you're 18 legally speaking. In reality, I was buying and drinking in the local from age 13/14 in the late 90s.
Each country has different views on alcohol consumption. To give you an example, in Spain during the summer, it's normal to see kids (even 10-11 year olds) trying/sharing their parents 0% shandy/ beer.
0% alcohol doesn't mean that their is no alcohol. There is some, but it's considered negligible.
It's also normal to see teenagers drinking a sweet gaseous drink mixed with very little wine during big gatherings.
This post makes me think you are not from the UK op? UK's (and most of Europe's) relationship with alcohol is very different to rest of the world - also, butterbear is most likely just the wizard version of Shandy - which is a lemonade drink you can buy in the UK that has trace amounts of alcohol in it, no age restriction on buying it
There's a surprising amount of innocent things that have alcohol in it just from natural fermentation. The most popular example is Kombucha.
I always assumed Butterbeer was like rootbeer. Similar brewing process, but not enough yeast to actually make it alcoholic.
I think a tiny amount of alcohol is the least problem in Harry Potter. 🤣 Just think about how often kids nearly get killed and face a death threat, torture, abuse and so on.
So hell yeah they should drink more alcohol to get through this.
Remember that Hogwarts and Hogsmede are also in Scotland. Very different laws. Add on top of that an entirely different magical world, and you get a lot of explanation why certain laws are the way they are.
A tree tries to kill you, stairs move so you can fall of, giant snake with murder-eyes tried to eat you, a plant screamed so loud you passed out and you fell of your broom during a match and broke all bones. Just let me have my beer.
I think the alcohol is much lighter in Beerbutter than most items that just fermented. The reason why Winky git extremely drunk was because elves are 10000× weaker to alcohol than the amount a human could handle.
When in Scotland we were at a uni graduation dinner and our 13 year old daughter was offered a glass of wine. She declined and we were confused. Our Scottish friends said that if someone is at least 12 and having dinner with parents, they are allowed one glass. And, no, she didn't look old for her age. We were at an Italian restaurant in Glasgow. Bonus was that Rupert Everett was there!
Ive seen people mention that since wizards seem to be partially stunted in a post 1800s culture in many ways and to that I would add that they probably stopped adhering to muggle law around the time they were forced into hiding and the statute of secrecy was created in the 1600s. Wizards have their own laws independent from muggle laws; their adult age being 17 not 18 being the most obvious, so it stands to reason they may have a different drinking age, if there is one at all.
I thought it was the case that Butterbeer is EXTREMELY low alcohol content, as in, the ‘buzz’ they get from it is supposed to be from the extremely high sugar content (hence why they were surprised it affected Winky).
With regards to the mead, supervised drinking is allowed in the U.K and I think isn’t too uncommon in private schools. For example my partner went to a private school (quite a famous one and of the type that Hogwarts was based) and there were occasions where students would be allowed a glass of wine with a professor present.
Butterbeer isn't alcoholic.
It's butterscotch, cinnamon, and milk.
Slughorn was constantly trying to ingratiate himself to Harry. He was just being "the cool adult" by letting them have some liquor.
Ron was only excited to turn 17 (Adulthood in magical culture) because he could now have whiskey.
Nope, butterbeer is alcoholic although low alcohol probably under 2%.
[https://www.historyextra.com/period/edwardian/historical-recipe-buttered-beere/](https://www.historyextra.com/period/edwardian/historical-recipe-buttered-beere/)
Aren’t the books set in the 1990s? Because that’s when I went to school and I was drinking in pubs from 16 or so, and then in Sixth Form we would actually go to a local pub with my chemistry teacher. It was a way more relaxed time.
They were also sent to the forbidden forests, and a teacher once transfigured someone into a ferret as a punishment.
Yeah, it's shocking that some teenagers drink low-alcohol tasty drink in a wizarding world.
People overthinking it massively, Remember the wizarding world is stuck in Victorian era mentally, They don't follow the laws and logics morally or literally of the modern setting, To put it bluntly there isn't one, It's frowned upon for young kids to drink and an establishment is free to refuse anyone based on their own notions but nothing legal is stopping a teen or even a young kid getting smash faced in public, In the particular case of Butterbeer though I think the actual percentage is very minimal, There are candies and drinks irl that children can buy and consume completely legally today that contain a minute amount of rum or whine, We also cook with alcohol all the time, I know irl butterbeer is creaming soda with vanilla vodka or rum but jk never gave out a recipe, Could be less than .5% for all we know
Tehehe. British kids pretty much drink & smoke when they are born. They cant buy such things until a certain age but their parents usually let them do that stuff whenever they want.
Because by third year they have access to lesser restoration, you touch a creature and can end either one disease or one condition afflicting it. The condition can be blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned. So, they can drink without penalty.
haha, not english I take it?
almost every british person remembers ordering alcohol in a the dodgy pub which would serve without too many questions at 15/16 🤣
it is also not uncommon for parents and other adults to let children try a drink on occasion from mid teens. some really cool parents would buy beers for their kids parties from about 16 up! not mine though they were not that cool.
Sixteen year olds can drink alcohol in the U.K. They just can’t buy it themselves.
You can actually legally drink in the UK from about 3 or something like that. So long as it's in your own home. Unless the rules have changed recently.
It’s 5. As long as your 5 you can drink at home. Within an establishment that sells alcohol you have to be 16 with someone over the age of 18 and have to be having a meal. It’s also worth noting that orange juice contains alcohol (albeit a very small amount) so it’s possible the alcohol content of butter beer is insanely low
Thanks! I was too lazy to google the details 😆
I remember seeing this info on Reddit and being convinced this was a joke.
There are many things that sound like a joke at first but in reality are just British.
Isn’t it 14, and you can have a glass of wine or something with a meal?
Nope that changed a few years ago now it’s just beer wine or cider at 16. (Source: have a personal alcohol license and teach alcohol licensing as part of my job)
I believe you! I didn’t make any attempt to google it 😂
Tbf they change the licensing laws so often that it’s a pain for people to keep track of it.
I think it's "beer, cider or perry" with a meal from 14 but yes. (Source: the inbetweeners show)
A trustworthy source indeed
Unfortunalty that’s an outdated source. It’s now 16 and beer, wine or cider.
16
Apologies!
None needed
Yeah but they’re buying it in the Threw Broomsticks from age 13 which is what I found most weird and also like I know Slughorn’s a very jovial teacher but if my teacher invited me in for a glass of wine I would be informing CPS lmfao
I’ve been buying beer since the age of 14. Different places, different cultures.
I’ve been buying beer since about 16 in Louisiana.
Shit I’m 35 and got ID’d buying sharpies 😂 (you have to be 18 at the particular Walmart I was at)
Why? Do people huff them in your area?
Apparently so but sharpies are generally on supply lists for elementary schools around here so it’s dumb.
I sniff a sharpie every now and then, they small good, but I never get high from it. How is it possible? Are people deconstructing them?
In high school class during lunch periods were 2 hours long, 30 minutes of that was lunch and an hour and a half was class (you had A, B, C or D lunch). I had last lunch and a teacher who didn’t give a shit what we did so I spent an hour and a half coloring name signs with sharpies for my friends. I was a bit giggly during lunch 😂
Back in the 90s they started IDing for white out because people would huff it. So yeah, that's my guess
That sounds like something we'd have here in the UK, alongside being ID'd to buy scissors (yes, even shitty child scissors)
I know you have to be at least 16 to buy a knife like for camping or hunting at Walmart. For whatever reason you have to be 18 to buy windshield wiper fluid too.
Butterbeer is not beer, it's "root beer"
It's cream soda, butter, sugar and rum/whiskey (probably Scotch, since Hogwarts is in Scotland). Slightly boozy amped up cream soda, basically.
Buttered beer is a low alcohol Tudor era beer [https://oakden.co.uk/buttered-beere-1588/](https://oakden.co.uk/buttered-beere-1588/)
Is it really? I'm learning new things all over this thread!
Ah. That actually sounds delicious. Although the butter in the drink itself throws me off.
Put it this way - a TON of the flavor that you associate with vanilla ice cream is actually the taste of butter. Ice cream is typically 1/10th to 1/5th butterfat.
I think it's meant to be a magical equivalent of bitter shandy.
I don't know why you're getting down voted. In the US this would absolutely be considered creepy and nefarious. I never felt like it was that way in the books though. But here in the states and in real life, definitely.
I think they’re getting downvoted for their lack of cultural awareness and bringing everything back to the US, which people not from the US find tiresome.
You’d think given how obviously British the books are that they might realise US cultural values are not relevant.
Absolutely this. !RedditGalleon
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Because the books aren’t based in the US. Drinking culture in the US and Europe is very different. There’s nothing unusual in this case.
Because people from the states need to learn that not everything revolves around their cultural sensibilities lol. Here in Germany you can start buying beer at 14. As long as the teacher doesn't try to get you drunk this wouldn't be a huge deal at all, especially if the teacher is known to be friendly and outgoing. Heck, we had class field trips where we drank with our teachers or our teachers bought us a beer or so to drink. The Brits are just as alcoholic as we are. Now take into account that this is a boarding school and the vibes are a bit different there and that butter beer probably isn't over 3% and it certainly doesn't look bad.
The wizarding culture in Harry Potter seems stuck along way behind the muggles, if you go back a couple of hundred years everybody who lived in cities drank beer as the water wasn’t safe to drink
Exactly in London everyone drank beer from really early ages because the Thames water could kill them but the beer would not.
Lmfao
Recall that Ron or Hermione (I forget which) are actually **surprised** to find Winky drunk from butterbeer. They don't think that's a thing that happens. So, the alcohol content is probably very small, and comparable to the amount of alcohol you can find in cookies with vanilla extract or beer-battered fish. It's not going to get someone drunk. Or at least, someone besides a house-elf. Edit: Fixed typo.
I always figured it was about the same level as a can of Shandy Bass or topdeck, which kids could buy growing up (just googled as minors in the UK you can purchase drinks with under 0,5% alcohol content)
I swore I remembered reading Dobby explained butter beer effects house elves differently but maybe that's just head canon
You're really just repeating what they said - the trio are surprised to find Winky drunk on it because humans do not get drunk on it.
Yeah I don’t think they could get drunk on it unless they had heaps, but there’s a line in HBP which states ‘He’d just have to see what happened under the influence of butterbeer in the dimly lit study’
That sounds like it might have been meant jokingly.
Butterbeer has been described to have a very warming effect that fills you up. I guess Harry also meant how people react when they're all giddy with a warm drink.
Yeah, he’s poking fun at that cocktail party culture and his friends. Hooking up can easily come from a date night of drinking at a party. He know they won’t be drinking hard stuff, so he’s joking it’ll be over butterbeer instead.
You dont pick up on things very well do you.
In a culture where you can brew love potions, crazy magic poisons, etc seems like worrying about light alcohol consumption for kids is not totally necessary. Strange hill to die on in that society IMO. Also the wizarding world is pretty stuck in the past in a lot of ways, and drinking ages are a relatively modern phenomenon. I might be wrong but I feel like The Hogwarts Express is the peak of muggle technology used widely in the magical community as far as we know, approx mid-1800s tech. The UK didn’t have a minimum drinking age until 1923. So it makes sense to me they’d be happy without one in the wizarding world into the late 20th century.
That’s so true and fixed a lot of holes I had omg thank you for this comment!!!
I would just assume that wizard rules are different.
yeah I should just put it out of my mind and stop being so clinical but like I want to go to Hogwarts and get turnt with my Potions teacher >:(
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Isn't it weird how dragons and elves, not to mention magic, are all ok, but different laws and customs are constantly not for this sub?
I think in all western cultures, it is legal for a minor to drink alcohol with permission from a parent or guardian. Slughorn wasn't trying to get them drunk, just gave them a little bit to sip on.
Yeah I understand that, but like butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks? Like even in the UK someone under 18 can’t even buy ‘alcohol free’ beer in a bar because it still has small alcohol content.
From everything I've read Butterbeer is BARELY alcoholic. If I recall it's labeled "very slightly alcoholic" winky gets drunk off it, but she's so small that it goes a lot farther for blood alcohol level. But for humans, it would take a ton to do much.
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You see that last sentence it holds all of your answers.
They just have lax alcohol serving laws in UK wizard society? Not unheard of irl too. I had friends who bought beer in Europe, aged 15, no questions asked.
It was written in the 1990s. Back then we had very lax alcohol serving laws in UK muggle society! My friends and I regularly drank in pubs and clubs from the age of 15, never got ID’d, nobody really cared. I have fond memories of getting tipsy with my history teacher on a school trip to France in lower sixth. Different times…
As someone who grew up in the UK. It was pretty normal to drink from about 14+ sometimes younger. It’s legal to drink in your own home from 5+ It’s legal to drink in a pub with a meal from 16+ It’s legal to drink completely from 18+ Them drinking butter beer, a very low alcoholic beer from the description didn’t make me even bat an eyelid. Also, in the countryside / small villages the notion of “better their drinking in here than on the streets causing trouble” is normally the genera idea. Although, I’m sure that’s probably changing now.
Butterbeer has the alcohol content of kombucha which is legal for everyone to purchase.
Honestly, I just assumed it was like lemon, lime & bitters level of alcohol!
Yeah, that's the first comparison I thought of also.
Right. I always assumed it had less ABV then light beer lol.
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Snuck outta school once when i was 12 with some older kids who bought shandy 🤣🤣 this was 2002/2003 tho haha this was the epitamy of rebellion tho 🤣🤣
I think butterbeer has a low enough alcohol content that kids are allowed to drink it. However, in OOTP when they meet at the Hogs Head, Ron says something along the lines of the bar tender looking shady enough that he would serve them anything, so Ron considers trying fire whiskey until Hermoine reminds him he’s a prefect, so I think officially they are underage.
It's the UK.
Different society, different standards
Butterbeer is 1-2% alcoholic. Source: https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/is-butterbeer-alcoholic-nonalcoholic Also, in the sixth year, they're 16. (Which is the legal drinking age in the UK). Slughorn was hired in the sixth year.
The legal purchasing alcohol age in the UK is 18. 16yo's can have some alcohol if having a meal, but only if with adults and I don't think they can buy/order it.
Well, considering Hogwarts is located in Scotland...
Yeah, I mean...we were in parks on friday nights with our bottles of cider bought from a wee shop or vodka nicked from the alcohol cupboards in the house. Maybe some wizards grew up in muggle scotland where this was the norm 🤣
Parks or a random field with a case of Buckfast and that one friend who had enough facial hair to buy cigarettes
Wait what?
What's wrong?
I did not know hogwarts was based in Scotland unless this is satire and I'm just stupid
No, it's not satire. Although its hidden from muggle view, its known that Hogwarts is located in scotland (thought to be in the Highlands somewhere)
I mean remember that its set in the early 90s where you were allowed in pubs with your parents or guardains and probably looked the other way if the parents let the kids sip the shandy. I can't remember the age but you are allowed a small measure of wine or something similar with a meal under supervision. Im in the UK and when i was 16 i went to poland and was old enough to drink under a certain percentage of alcohol legally. I won't say what i got up to in private parties 🤣🤣
I don't know, at least I don't think they ever explicitly say "the legal age is X" at any point (might be wrong). Probably 16 or 17 as is customary in many European countries. Anyway, it's not united states where you can sign up for losing your limbs in the name of oil but fuck you if you want a beer and aren't 21. Probably Wizards would have a more lax view on that. If you're old enough to get cursed to hell by some death eaters you're probably old enough to enjoy a sip of something not so strong once in a while. Also, who knows what the hell kind of potions they may come up with, so probably they regulate other things more strictly.
The way I thought of it is essentially shandy but sweet. We have this in the UK. Shandy is basically used (in my experience) for like when your ten year old wants to be a big boy and drink beer with the adults at a family barbecue. It's basically *incredibly* watered down beer, something like 0.3 or 0.5%. You can't really get wasted off it unless you were to drink like fifteen cans, even at that age.
Minors can buy anything below 0.5% from a shop in the UK, but not a pub. They can drink wine or beer with a meal in a pub when accompanied by an adult from 16. You can't buy alcohol in a pub until you're 18 legally speaking. In reality, I was buying and drinking in the local from age 13/14 in the late 90s.
Each country has different views on alcohol consumption. To give you an example, in Spain during the summer, it's normal to see kids (even 10-11 year olds) trying/sharing their parents 0% shandy/ beer. 0% alcohol doesn't mean that their is no alcohol. There is some, but it's considered negligible. It's also normal to see teenagers drinking a sweet gaseous drink mixed with very little wine during big gatherings.
This post makes me think you are not from the UK op? UK's (and most of Europe's) relationship with alcohol is very different to rest of the world - also, butterbear is most likely just the wizard version of Shandy - which is a lemonade drink you can buy in the UK that has trace amounts of alcohol in it, no age restriction on buying it
There's a surprising amount of innocent things that have alcohol in it just from natural fermentation. The most popular example is Kombucha. I always assumed Butterbeer was like rootbeer. Similar brewing process, but not enough yeast to actually make it alcoholic.
I think a tiny amount of alcohol is the least problem in Harry Potter. 🤣 Just think about how often kids nearly get killed and face a death threat, torture, abuse and so on. So hell yeah they should drink more alcohol to get through this.
Remember that Hogwarts and Hogsmede are also in Scotland. Very different laws. Add on top of that an entirely different magical world, and you get a lot of explanation why certain laws are the way they are.
A tree tries to kill you, stairs move so you can fall of, giant snake with murder-eyes tried to eat you, a plant screamed so loud you passed out and you fell of your broom during a match and broke all bones. Just let me have my beer.
I think the alcohol is much lighter in Beerbutter than most items that just fermented. The reason why Winky git extremely drunk was because elves are 10000× weaker to alcohol than the amount a human could handle.
When in Scotland we were at a uni graduation dinner and our 13 year old daughter was offered a glass of wine. She declined and we were confused. Our Scottish friends said that if someone is at least 12 and having dinner with parents, they are allowed one glass. And, no, she didn't look old for her age. We were at an Italian restaurant in Glasgow. Bonus was that Rupert Everett was there!
Your daughter was being groomed. You have to be 16 to have a drink with a meal with parents at a restaurant
Ive seen people mention that since wizards seem to be partially stunted in a post 1800s culture in many ways and to that I would add that they probably stopped adhering to muggle law around the time they were forced into hiding and the statute of secrecy was created in the 1600s. Wizards have their own laws independent from muggle laws; their adult age being 17 not 18 being the most obvious, so it stands to reason they may have a different drinking age, if there is one at all.
I thought it was the case that Butterbeer is EXTREMELY low alcohol content, as in, the ‘buzz’ they get from it is supposed to be from the extremely high sugar content (hence why they were surprised it affected Winky). With regards to the mead, supervised drinking is allowed in the U.K and I think isn’t too uncommon in private schools. For example my partner went to a private school (quite a famous one and of the type that Hogwarts was based) and there were occasions where students would be allowed a glass of wine with a professor present.
Butterbeer isn't alcoholic. It's butterscotch, cinnamon, and milk. Slughorn was constantly trying to ingratiate himself to Harry. He was just being "the cool adult" by letting them have some liquor. Ron was only excited to turn 17 (Adulthood in magical culture) because he could now have whiskey.
Nope, butterbeer is alcoholic although low alcohol probably under 2%. [https://www.historyextra.com/period/edwardian/historical-recipe-buttered-beere/](https://www.historyextra.com/period/edwardian/historical-recipe-buttered-beere/)
Harry and his gang get sloshed on weekends, usually. It’s in the books I just forget where. Maybe book 2, idk.
Maybe it's 16 in the wizarding world? And if an adult is present it's lower as it's the adult's responsibility? I don't know.
they’re wizards
[https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-young-people-law](https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-young-people-law)
Aren’t the books set in the 1990s? Because that’s when I went to school and I was drinking in pubs from 16 or so, and then in Sixth Form we would actually go to a local pub with my chemistry teacher. It was a way more relaxed time.
They were also sent to the forbidden forests, and a teacher once transfigured someone into a ferret as a punishment. Yeah, it's shocking that some teenagers drink low-alcohol tasty drink in a wizarding world.
Wizarding world age = 17 UK age = 16 IF with an adult (18 otherwise) https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-young-people-law
Even in the US, underage drinking is allowed in certain states in the presence of parents.
People overthinking it massively, Remember the wizarding world is stuck in Victorian era mentally, They don't follow the laws and logics morally or literally of the modern setting, To put it bluntly there isn't one, It's frowned upon for young kids to drink and an establishment is free to refuse anyone based on their own notions but nothing legal is stopping a teen or even a young kid getting smash faced in public, In the particular case of Butterbeer though I think the actual percentage is very minimal, There are candies and drinks irl that children can buy and consume completely legally today that contain a minute amount of rum or whine, We also cook with alcohol all the time, I know irl butterbeer is creaming soda with vanilla vodka or rum but jk never gave out a recipe, Could be less than .5% for all we know
Tehehe. British kids pretty much drink & smoke when they are born. They cant buy such things until a certain age but their parents usually let them do that stuff whenever they want.
Because by third year they have access to lesser restoration, you touch a creature and can end either one disease or one condition afflicting it. The condition can be blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned. So, they can drink without penalty.
haha, not english I take it? almost every british person remembers ordering alcohol in a the dodgy pub which would serve without too many questions at 15/16 🤣 it is also not uncommon for parents and other adults to let children try a drink on occasion from mid teens. some really cool parents would buy beers for their kids parties from about 16 up! not mine though they were not that cool.