60 Miles to Butterbeer

A few weeks ago we bought annual passes to Universal.  We’ve had ‘em before, but a couple years have gone by since.  We haven’t seen The Wizarding World of Harry Potter yet, or tasted Butterbeer!

We get to the Econ often enough that as long as we are in the area and have passes, we can justify dropping by Islands of Adventure for a few hours after a mountain bike ride.

If we were paying for a one day ticket, we’d never go. We just can’t get up early enough, or withstand crowds long enough, to justify a single all day excursion.  But give us a year and a few hours per weekend. That we can handle.

As usual, a good lunch is the magic formula for recovering from the early-up of the Saturday morning ride.  By afternoon, we have run the search for satisfactory theme park outfits - quick dry shorts, and sandals that strap securely - and head for Universal. 

(The sandals are especially important.  Can you imagine how many flips flops they find under the roller coasters at the end of the day?) 

By the time we pull into the last row of the King Kong lot, it's late, but there’s enough time to purchase our passes and get in for an hour or two.  I am anxious to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

It's not summer yet, but the skies are rehearsing for July. As we step up to leave our fingerprints at the gate, thunder rumbles, and the first big fat raindrops begin to fall.

Slipping expertly through the stream of exiting people we head for the back of the park, where the dragons fly and Butterbeer is served.

Only the dragons aren’t flying. They are shut down. As is every other roller coaster and outdoor ride in the park.

Now sometimes, just watching a Harry Potter movie can make me feel like I am back in upstate New York with the gray skies, and the snow that just keeps on coming even after your Easter candy is long gone.  On the big screen in a dark theatre, a winter scene in a Harry Potter movie can set my teeth to chattering.

So real is the backdrop for this area of the park, and so gray is the sky, that disbelief is nearly suspended. Snow clings to the steep, slate rooftops of Hogsmeade.  The Three Broomsticks is doing a booming business.  Gringotts is right down that alley.  It is the perfect illusion. 

Or it would be, if it weren't for the multitude of drenched muggles in bad shorts.

Ok, so we were drenched muggles ourselves.  Drenched and re-drenched as it turns out, as we people-watch our way through a 90 minute line for The Forbidden Journey, the only indoor ride.

The ride was pretty good, but it was the reward of a butterbeer afterwards that left an impression. We raved about it all the way home. What’s in it? How can we make some?

Butterbeer, draft or frozen.

Old habits die hard.  We choose draft.

Another choice is Pumpkin Juice.

Thanksgiving in a bottle.

Back at home I go immediately online.  It seems we are not the only ones with home brewing in mind.  But no recipe (and there are many) looks even close.  

My eyes wander from the screen in a potential sugar daze.  Mmm, maybe that foam was butterscotch blended with whipped cream…

My gaze lands on a little black notebook next to the computer, a notebook I’d been keeping for a few weeks, since I started watching “Addicted to Food”.

Brewing Butterbeer for home consumption is a singularly bad idea.

Usually it takes some form of chocolate to make me forget all about how much I hate carrying around extra pounds.  It’s taken a month just to lose five.  Do I really want Butterbeer available in my own refrigerator?   

I close the computer.  It’s bad enough that it is available 60 miles away.


The Butterbeer has cast a powerful spell.  If only I had Harry’s potions textbook right now, I'd look up a counter-curse.


I pick up my ink laden wand and open the little black notebook, reluctantly starting a new page, hoping that a self-intervention will work some magic of its own.


Can the curse be reversed?

Sure hope so. There’re a lot of weekends in an annual pass. And we’ve got some dragon riding to do.