More ButterBeers... Alcohol Content

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Kirstini" <kirst_inn at y...> wrote:

> 
> Ohhh, these sound fantastic. However, I must confess to a little 
> typically Britishy ... boozy objection - I've always imagined that  
> Butterbeer has at least a little alcohol in it. I like the idea 
> (Steve's) of buttery cider, but have the impression that that method 
> was booze-free too. I imagine it as something of the alcoholic level 
> of canned Shandy ... ie: not really having much of an effect on anyone
>  but house elves and particularly giggly thirteen year olds.
> 
> Kirstini. Mmm, Butterbeer...

bboy_mn:

I have explained this in past discussions of Butter Beer, but I'll
give it a go again.

Back in 'the good old days' the only way to get carbonation (fizz)
into soft drinks was to ferment them; add yeast and sugar then let the
yeast grow feeding off the sugar and producting carbon dioxide as a by
product. That's how beer gets it foam, but that is also how beer gets
it's alcohol; it's a by-prodict of fermentation. 

It doesn't seem reasonable to me that in the old fashioned wizard
world, fizzy soft drinks would use 'charged' water; fermentation of
ginger ale, ginger beers, root beer, sarsaparilla, birch beer, and
most other root and spice soft beverages have been made with a
fermention process for centuries. To keep them from turning 'hard',
you control the amount of sugar available to the yeast, and you cool
them before a significant amount of acohol has a chance to form. 

The point is that any naturally fermented soft beverage has a small
amount of alcohol in it. In fact, the law in the UK allows for
fermented soft beverages by classifying any beverage with 0.5% alcohol
content or less as 'soft' and therefore an acceptable drink for
children. You would have to drink a dozen bottle to come close to the
alcohol content of a single beer, so they see it as pretty safe.

However, 0.5% would probably be enough to affect a very small creature
like a house-elf. With there small bodies, one fermented 'soft'
beverage could easily be the equivalent of a normal 'hard' beer.

Based on my research of beverages in UK which relates to a FanFic
story I am writing, they do make a 'baby' shandy. Shandygaffs that
kids can drink, they are made with real beer and ginger ale or lemon
soda, but they use what we call 'near' beer or NA beer here in the US.
In other words, beer that has less than 0.5% alcohol. 

It is very likely that foaming butterbeer is fermented but soft, and
that accounts for allowing kids to drink it, but additionally accounts
for it's effects on house-elves.

Just passing it along.

bboy_mn