Butterbeer Bonanza, a Three-Part Series: Part 1, Non-Alcoholic Butterbeer

Welcome to Part 1 of our Butterbeer Bonanza: the Non-Alcoholic version!

A few determined souls banded together to first scour the interwebs for non-alcoholic butterbeer recipes and then taste-test three of them, using the OWLs grading system. For a more thorough recap, please turn your eyes toward the introductory post for this series: “Butterbeer Bonanza, a Three-Part Series: An Introduction.”

While J.K. Rowling and the Universal Parks & Resorts corporate chef, Steven Jayson, specifically wanted the park’s drinks to contain no dairy and no butter – so that as many guests as possible could try the drink, even the lactose intolerant – that particular restriction did not apply during these taste testing. So as you’ll see, butter and whipping cream abound.

Before we get started, let’s meet the two teams!

Chicago Team

Left: Cassie Kidd
Middle: Eric Scull
Right: Jasmine Lee

Cassie Kidd, MuggleNet Creative Team intern, Gryffindor
Eric Scull, Alohomora! podcaster and MuggleNet Creative Team member, Gryffindor
Jasmine Lee, MuggleNet Creative Team intern, Hufflepuff

LA Team

Left: Aaron Schwartz
Middle: Brandon Sanchez
Right: Joey Nestra

Aaron Schwartz, MuggleNet Creative Team intern, Gryffindor
Brandon Sanchez, Wizard Cops podcaster, Gryffindor
Joey Nestra, Wizard Cops podcaster, Hufflepuff

Below is the butterbeer recipe lineup, in order of presentation:

#1) Off Beat and Inspired’s chilled butterbeer recipe

#2) Huffington Post’s frothy butterbeer

#3) Babble’s ice cream butterbeer

What did you guys think about our final scores? What other butterbeer recipes have you tried? Do you recommend any other ones as the best non-alcoholic version?