Are Harry Potter and Friends Alcoholics?

on July 28, 2009 at 12:30 PM

Bloggers are buzzing today about whether Hogwarts has a drinking problem.

Now that you mention it, I was pretty surprised at one scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in particular (don't worry, no blatant spoilers here), in which a certain teenage main character gets tipsy on butterbeer...

There are other scenes in the movie involving inebriated adults, but I think the main concern here is that the movie seems to depict—or more like suggest—teenage/underage drinking.

Warner Brothers defended the movie, saying that the drinking scenes with adolescents are ambiguous and "open to different interpretations." In other words, because the alcohol content of butterbeer has never been stated, no one actually knows if the drink is even alcoholic.

A little sleuthing on my part turned up a bunch of recipes for butterbeer—some non-alchoholic and others alcoholic. I guess we'll never really know...

Have you seen the movie? Were you surprised that so many of the scenes included alcohol (or the suggestion of alcohol)?

About the author Kim Conte

has shoes that make people stop her on the street and ask "Where did you get those?" but it doesn't work for taxi cabs as she was hit by one ... and lived to tell the tale. She has more freckles than Lohan but way less attitude. And she's a fierce cook with tons of recipes to share -- and wishes she could share some with Bourdain.

Filed Under: drinks, harry potter

Comments (6)

JPsMommy605

on Jul 28, 2009 at 3:47 PM

Saw the movie and I think that focusing on the butterbeer as an alcoholic beverage leading to inebriation is "ridikulous"! It certainly wasn't blatant, unless you're looking for it. After all, in the books it's clearly stated that it's not strong enough to make one drunk - except for house-elves (remember Winky's drinking problem?).

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Cafe Kim

on Jul 28, 2009 at 3:54 PM

Excellent point, JpsMommy605. And I totally forgot about Winky!

HistoryMamaX3

on Jul 28, 2009 at 5:16 PM

It was a part of the story... not something Warner put in just for the heck of it. And, like it or not- underage drinking is a problem- this could be used as a great launching point for a discussion with your children... if this is something that you find troublesome in the movie.

The story deals with the lives of these kids- and tough stuff comes up... just as it does in real life.

RanaAurora

on Jul 29, 2009 at 2:14 PM

I'd like to remind people that the author - and actors - are not American. Drinking ages are completely different in Britain.

mrspierce06

on Aug 2, 2009 at 3:31 PM

yes but Butterbeer is not real BEER, its more like liquid butterscotch. sure a house-elf (the size of a 2 year old) can get hopped up on it but not people.

XandersMommy74

on Aug 2, 2009 at 6:31 PM

Butterbeer isn't real bear...may I remind everyone here that Harry Potter is ficticious. I have seen the movie and read the book (3 times) and I never once got the impression it was alcoholic, but even so RanaAurora is right, British laws differ from American ones.