I always thought of butterbeer as some innocent, sweet-tasting, non-alcoholic drink that was provided for kids in lieu of actual alcohol.  But I did notice, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, that Hermione was very obviously tipsy on her way home from Hogsmeade.  So maybe director David Yates and J.K. Rowling have differing opinions.

Combine the Tipsy Hermione scene with Hagrid and Slughorn getting drunk together, and the party scene that showed Neville serving drinks, and what do you get?  At least a handful of Concerned Parents, one of whom unfortunately writes for the New York Times.  From the article Harry Potter and the Pint of Liquid Courage:

As Harry Potter fans crowd movie theaters to catch the latest installment in the blockbuster series, parents may be surprised by the starring role given to alcohol. In scene after scene, the young wizards and their adult professors are seen sipping, gulping and pouring various forms of alcohol to calm their nerves, fortify their courage or comfort their sorrows…

As the mother of a 10-year-old Harry Potter fan, I was taken aback by the reaction of the young people in the theater. They snickered at Hermione’s goofy grin and, later, guffawed when an inebriated Hagrid passed out. While I don’t think my daughter fully understood what was going on, I wondered how other parents, educators and addiction experts would react.

Read that last sentence again.  She’s basically saying “While I admit it’s not a problem at all because little kids won’t even notice, maybe I can find some adults to further a false controversy.”

One important thing to remember is that the Harry Potter series takes place in England, where the drinking age is 18 and even 16-year-olds — the age of Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Half-Blood Prince — are allowed to order alcohol during meals.  So it’s not really a big deal.  To the article’s credit, it explains that, and has a good quote from a parent:

Daniel Isaacs, a New York advertising copywriter, said his 9-year-old daughter didn’t notice the drinking scenes. “The Harry Potter universe is not our own,” he said. “Trying to put 2009 American norms into play seems kind of silly.

“Plus, in a world where dark wizards are kidnapping or killing people on a regular basis, a little under-age drinking is the least of their problems.”