Elder & Wiser

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (62 ratings)

Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
1 12 oz Bourbon whiskey
34 oz Elderflower liqueur
34 oz Apple juice/apple cider (cloudy & unsweetened)
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
  3. SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
  5. EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 7/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10
Cocktail of the day:

23rd May 2025 is World Turtle Day

Review:

Apple and elderflower combine well with whiskey.

View readers' comments

History:

Created in 2006 by yours truly and named for its original base, Wiser's Canadian whisky with elder-flower liqueur.

Nutrition:

One serving of Elder & Wiser contains 178 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.3 standard drinks
  • 20.22% alc./vol. (20.22° proof)
  • 18.2 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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margaret badger’s Avatar margaret badger
23rd May at 18:41
Not horrible, but all I can taste is banana (which is, to me, what bourbon tastes like - and banana is not my favourite flavour)! For me, not sure the bitters made any difference. One for our American cousins, I think!
23rd May at 18:02
Fantastic spring cocktail. Had to substitute elderflower liqueur for a homemade elderflower cordial which added sweetness and reduced alcohol
Calvin Grant’s Avatar Calvin Grant
23rd May 2024 at 02:03
Delightful and delicious, floral and fruity, and so springtimely... the black elder is in bloom in my neighborhood...and ninety nine proof bourbon balanced the sweeter elements nicely. Thanks Simon!
John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
24th May 2023 at 00:45
This was very good and loved that the three flavours could be distinguished. The sweetness will be dictated by the sweetness of the apple juice. While it was a tad sweeter for us, we did add 3 - 4 drops of grapefruit bitters and it lessened the sweetness and brightened the three flavours.
Joe Rogan’s Avatar Joe Rogan
23rd September 2024 at 09:42
After your recommendation I tried the same thing, after adding a squeeze of lemon juice, and it opened the flavors much more than before and made it significantly more palatable. Thank you for the recommendation!
Avatar

Anonymous

12th July 2021 at 23:46
On the sweeter side, but can taste all three ingredients. 2 1/2 stars(Hubby) 3 1/2(Wifey)