Harry Potter Butterbeer Mystery Solved: We had it tested
Islands of Adventure ~ Orlando, FL. ~ For the many thousands of muggles who’ve gulped down Butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter without knowing what they were drinking, Consumer Ally has unlocked the closely-guarded secret of the magical drink’s nutritional content.
Neither the wizards at Hogwarts nor the folks at Universal Orlando have revealed the nutritional information. Uninformed and undaunted, tourists wait in long lines and fork over up to $11 a mug for the pleasure of consuming the concoction J.K. Rowling’s characters love to drink. The thirst for knowledge about this drink at the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter area at the Islands of Adventure theme park has spawned dozens of copycat recipes and plenty of chatter about what exactly park goers are drinking. WalletPop dispatched someone to the theme park to collect a sample of the popular drink and sent it to Kappa Laboratories in Miami, where it was analyzed so we could get down to the bottom of this nutritional conundrum. Here’s what Kappa found in a 14-ounce serving:
- Calories: 200
- Fat: 3.5 grams
- Carbohydrates: 42
- Sugar: 29 grams
- Protein: 0
It’s not exactly the most nutritious drink in the world nor is it close to being worst. It certainly isn’t good for you — but it’s hard to believe anyone would have thought that it was given that the concoction tastes like the Slurpee version of a butterscotch Life Saver.
Butterbeer has more calories than a Coke, but less sugar. It has just slightly less carbs than a bagel. But stack up Butterbeer next to a kid’s size McDonald’s shake and it’s not even a fair fight. The McDonald’s shake has more than double the calories, triple the fat and double the sugar.
So, if it’s any consolation, if you pay $11 for authentic Butterbeer, which can only be purchased within the 20 acres of Wizarding World, it’s a lot less bad for you than a McDonald’s shake, which you can buy almost anywhere in the developed world.
And for those of you who have pounded Pumpkin Juice, here’s the score on that per 8-ounces (double that if you drink one of the 16-ounce containers, which unlike Butterbeer are labeled with nutrition facts):
- Calories: 100
- Total fat: 0 grams
- Carbs: 24 grams
- Sugars: 24 grams
- Protein: 0 grams
Many thanks to the people over at Walletpop for this outstanding report! Remember to stay up to date on all things Harry Potter by reading our blog. Purchase your discount Islands of Adventure tickets in order to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter which is located inside Islands of Adventure.