Harry Potter movies are Christmas Movies...no questions asked.

A handful of years ago we took the kids to Universal Studios explicitly to visit Harry Potter attractions. My wife and I were a little too old to have cut our teeth reading those but growing up on Narnia and the Shire I’m a sucker for world building so these slotted in just right. I don’t know if there’s anything explicitly that makes these movies just slot into the whole Christmas season but it just works for us.

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While there we had our obligatory Butterbeer beverages and...diabeetus. When I started this cocktail journey I knew I wanted to revisit that beverage, make an adult version as well as a less sweet kid version. Something you can actually drink.

Starting Point: What Do We Use?

I researched some existing recipes to figure out what spirit would work best for this. Lucky timing, I’d had the ladies from Don Q on the podcast a couple months back and still had bottles on hand that seemed like they’d fit the bill. That sorted the adult version, at least the spirit part.

Then came the real puzzle: which cream soda to use. I started with what was locally available and figured I’d test from there if needed. Last piece was the butterscotch. Simple enough, right? Just make some homemade syrup. I also added club soda to the build with the intent of cutting down the sweetness that had walloped us at Universal.

Three testing variables: spirit choice, cream soda selection, butterscotch type. Or so I thought.

First Attempt

Adult Version

Ingredients:

• 1.75oz Don Q Reserva Añejo XO

• 6oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• Homemade butterscotch syrup

• Whipped cream topping

Build:

1. Add butterscotch syrup to stein

2. Add rum

3. Add cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Top with whipped cream

Family Version

Ingredients:

• 6oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• Homemade butterscotch syrup

• Whipped cream topping

Build:

1. Add butterscotch syrup to stein

2. Add cream soda

3. Add club soda

4. Top with whipped cream

The Problems That Revealed Themselves:

First hurdle was the homemade butterscotch. When it cools down, the butter congeals and becomes impossible to drizzle properly. Looked great in theory, didn’t work in practice.

Second was temperature. I’d frosted the family crest beer steins (16oz clear glass with handles), but I’d only chilled the cream soda and rum for a couple hours. Not nearly long enough. The drinks got warm and gross fast, which made the sweetness even more cloying.

Third problem: I picked up a marker note from the rum/soda mixture. The Don Q XO is a great sipping rum, but in cream soda it wasn’t working.

The kids wanted more creaminess. The whipped cream topping looked nice but didn’t solve the problem.

And finally, volume. The recipe only made about 11oz of liquid plus whipped cream. In a 16oz stein, it looked sad and half-empty.

Important Discovery:

The sweetness level was actually fine. I didn’t need to reduce sugar or butterscotch—I needed to fix everything else.

Round Two: Fixing the Obvious Problems

Adult Version

Ingredients:

• 2oz Don Q Reserva 7 Años

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 4oz club soda

• Homemade butterscotch syrup

• Whipped cream topping (heavy cream, brown sugar, vanilla)

Prep:

• All ingredients refrigerated overnight

• Frost stein 20-30 minutes before building

Build:

1. Add butterscotch syrup to frosted stein

2. Add rum

3. Add cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Top with whipped cream

Family Version

Ingredients:

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 4oz club soda

• 2.5oz half-and-half

• Homemade butterscotch syrup

• Whipped cream topping (heavy cream, brown sugar, vanilla)

Prep:

• All ingredients refrigerated overnight

• Frost stein 20-30 minutes before building

Build:

1. Add butterscotch syrup to frosted stein

2. Add half-and-half

3. Add cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Top with whipped cream

A little research told me bottled sodas need at least 12 hours to get cold enough. So everything went in the fridge overnight. Frosted the steins properly. Scaled up the volumes to actually fill the 16oz glasses. Switched from the Don Q XO to the 7 Años—cleaner, less complex, should work better in a mixed drink. Added half-and-half to the family version for the creaminess the kids wanted.

What Actually Happened:

Temperature was better but still not ideal. The frosted glass and overnight refrigeration helped, but the drinks still warmed up faster than I wanted.

The Don Q 7 Años gave me a different off-flavor. Not the same marker note as the XO, but still unpleasant. Started to think that maybe Puerto Rican rum style just doesn’t play nice with cream soda, regardless of age or quality.

The half-and-half added creaminess to the family version, but the whipped cream topping was still too fussy. It looked good for about 30 seconds, then started breaking down. Not practical.

Progress, but not there yet.

The Big Pivots (Test 3)

Adult Version

Ingredients:

• 1.5oz Don Q Reserva 7 Años

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• 1oz heavy whipping cream

• ~1/4 tbsp Vittles Company butterscotch sauce

• Crushed ice

Prep:

• All ingredients refrigerated overnight

• Frost stein 20-30 minutes before building

Build:

1. Fill stein 1/3 with crushed ice

2. Add butterscotch sauce

3. Add rum

4. Pour 4oz cream soda

5. Add club soda

6. Add heavy whipping cream

7. Pour remaining 4oz cream soda from 6-8 inches above glass

8. Gentle stir if needed

9. Serve immediately with straw

Family Version

Ingredients:

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• 1oz heavy whipping cream

• ~1/4 tbsp Vittles Company butterscotch sauce

• Crushed ice

Prep:

• All ingredients refrigerated overnight

• Frost stein 20-30 minutes before building

Build:

1. Fill stein 1/3 with crushed ice

2. Add butterscotch sauce

3. Pour 4oz cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Add heavy whipping cream

6. Pour remaining 4oz cream soda from 6-8 inches above glass

7. Gentle stir if needed

8. Serve immediately with straw

This round changed everything.

Ice solved the temperature problem definitively. Frosted glass and overnight refrigeration helped, but crushed ice filling a third of the stein kept everything cold from first sip to last. I reduced the club soda to 3oz to compensate for ice melt dilution.

The butterscotch surrender: I admitted defeat on the homemade syrup. Switched to Vittles Company commercial butterscotch sauce. It’s richer, more consistent, and actually pours properly. Sometimes simpler beats “authentic.”

The cream breakthrough—this was the big one. I ditched the whipped cream topping entirely. Too complicated, didn’t hold, added steps without adding value. Instead, I integrated heavy whipping cream directly into the drink. Started testing with 1.5oz, ended up at 1oz.

Here’s what I discovered: if you build it in the right order—cream soda, club soda, heavy cream—then pour the final portion of cream soda from 6-8 inches above the glass, the force of that pour agitates the heavy cream into natural foam on top. No whipping needed. The split-pour technique creates the visual and texture you want without any extra work.

The rum adjustment: I’d initially overreacted to the off-flavor and dropped the rum down to 1.5oz from 2oz. But as I drank the test batch, I noticed the flavor improved as the drink progressed and diluted slightly. The harsh notes mellowed. Rather than chase a different spirit entirely, I decided to stick with Don Q 7 Años at the lower volume. It works(wonder if the anejo would have benefitted from a retest).

The Soda Showdown (Test 3B)

I couldn’t help myself. Things were working with IBC, but I wanted to know if there were better options. So I did a side-by-side comparison of three cream sodas in half-sized portions:

• IBC Cream Soda

• Dr Pepper Cream Soda

• Fitz’s Cream Soda

Results:

• Adults preferred IBC for the boozy version

• Kids preferred Fitz’s for the family version

Important note: The half-sized batches didn’t foam the same way the full-sized ones did. Volume and velocity physics matter for the split-pour technique I guess. This wasn’t a recipe problem just smaller portions don’t create the same effect.

Key realization: Using different sodas for different versions isn’t compromise, it’s optimization. The kids and adults have different preferences. Why force them to drink the same thing?

Final Recipes

Adult Version - Boozy Butterbeer

Ingredients:

• 1.5oz Don Q Reserva 7 Años

• 8oz IBC cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• 1oz heavy whipping cream

• ~1/4 tbsp Vittles Company butterscotch sauce

• Crushed ice

Build:

1. Fill 16oz stein 1/3 with crushed ice

2. Add butterscotch sauce

3. Add rum

4. Pour 4oz IBC cream soda

5. Add club soda

6. Add heavy whipping cream

7. Pour final 4oz IBC cream soda from 6-8 inches above glass (creates natural foam)

8. Gentle stir if needed

9. Serve immediately with straw

Family Version - Butterbeer

Ingredients:

• 8oz Fitz’s cream soda

• 3oz club soda

• 1oz heavy whipping cream

• ~1/4 tbsp Vittles Company butterscotch sauce

• Crushed ice

Build:

1. Fill 16oz stein 1/3 with crushed ice

2. Add butterscotch sauce

3. Pour 4oz Fitz’s cream soda

4. Add club soda

5. Add heavy whipping cream

6. Pour final 4oz Fitz’s cream soda from 6-8 inches above glass (creates natural foam)

7. Gentle stir if needed

8. Serve immediately with straw

What I Learned

Commercial beats homemade sometimes. I started wanting homemade butterscotch for “authenticity.” Commercial sauce works better for consistency and ease. The Vittles Company butterscotch is richer than what I made anyway.

Construction technique matters as much as ingredients. The split-pour foam technique creates visual interest and texture without whipped cream hassle. Simple execution, better result.

Temperature control is structural, not optional. Sweet drinks become cloying when warm. Cold isn’t a preference, it’s a requirement for this to work.

Sometimes you overreact, then reconsider. Dropped the rum volume thinking the spirit was the problem, realized it was about dilution and timing. The lower amount worked, but not for the reasons I initially thought.

Closing

This is one family’s Butterbeer, not the definitive version. It’s the journey from an idea and Universal Studios memory to something we can actually drink at home during our Christmas Harry Potter marathon.

The split-pour foam technique turns out to be the clever part—simple execution that creates a “fancy” result without theater. Commercial butterscotch beats homemade. Different sodas for different people makes sense. And crushed ice solves problems that frosted glasses can’t.

Not an Instagram fantasy. A practical home recipe that works.

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