Name: Elder and Wiser
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Bourbon whiskey; 22.5 ml Elderflower liqueur; 22.5 ml Apple juice

Elder & Wiser
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Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Bourbon whiskey
³⁄₄ oz	Elderflower liqueur
³⁄₄ oz	Apple juice/apple cider (cloudy & unsweetened)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

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

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

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.

More cocktails by Simon Difford

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

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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

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!

James Griffin

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

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

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

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!