Bitter Elder

1 1⁄2 oz Gin
3⁄4 oz Elderflower liqueur, St. Germain
1⁄2 oz Campari
1⁄2 oz Lemon juice
Instructions

Shake, strain, straight up, cocktail

Notes

Delicious and only slightly bitter.

History

Cocktail resulted from a refinement of an unnamed cocktail using Aperol on Cocktail Chronicles. An anonymous commenter "amateurhour" created the cocktail. A similar comment a month later on ohgo.sh confirms the recipe.

Cocktail summary
Posted by Dan on
Created by
AmateurHour, commenter on Oh Go.sh and Cocktail Chronicales
Year
2008
Is an
authentic recipe
Reference

http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2007/10/01/this-one-been-done-yet/ http://ohgo.sh/archive/campari-take-four/

Curator
5 stars
Average
4.5 stars
(132 ratings)
YieldsDrink
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From other users
  • Tastes like grapefruit juice, but there is none in there. Very delicious, bitter, sour and not really sweet.
  • Strong, but not unpleasant, acidity. Absolutely calls grapefruit to mind. Will try variations with Aperol and Cynar.
  • Made with Campari/Aperol split. Tastes like ruby red grapefruit juice. — ★★★★★
  • Comments version is better: 2 oz Campari 1 oz gin (ideally overproof & high juniper) 1/2 oz Elderflower liqueur 3/4 oz lemon (or lime)
  • Excellent! Made with .25 Aperol and .25 Campari as per comments. More interesting (to me), but somwhat similar to the Jasmine (RH) that J likes better.
  • Pink. Slightly bitter. Appealing and delicious.
  • Good God, that's good!
  • Grapefruit juice, but not.
  • Subbed Cynar as I was out of Campari. Delicious and the grapefruit flavor on the finish is uncanny and excellent.
  • EGullet calls for .5 campari rather than .75
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  • Novara — Gin, Campari, Passion fruit syrup, Lemon juice
  • French Laundry — Gin, Elderflower liqueur, Maraschino Liqueur, Grapefruit bitters, Lime juice
  • Second Squadron — Gin, Elderflower liqueur, Crème Yvette, Lemon juice, Grapefruit juice, Grapefruit peel
  • Pure Joy — Gin, Elderflower liqueur, Orange bitters, Lime juice
  • Aladdin — Gin, Elderflower liqueur, Campari, Bitters, Lemon juice, Basil, Lemon peel
  • Liberation — Gin, Elderflower liqueur, Crème de Violette, Lemon juice, Lemon peel
  • Between the Devil and the Deep — Navy strength gin, Falernum, Campari, Rhubarb bitters, Lemon juice, Lemon peel
  • East Side Elder — Gin, Elderflower liqueur, Lime juice, Cucumber, Mint
Comments
bstein commented on 4/21/2012:

My friend Hugh summed it up, "This is everything a Cosmopolitan wants to be and everything it isn't."

Made it with cynar substituting for the campari and got a seriously good drink. I used Berkeley Square as the gin, which is quite herbal, so between that and the cynar this probably ended up significantly more herbal than the original recipe intends but it worked really well.

I have finally found something nice with Campari in! Really like this drink and the flavour pairing in it. Delightful!

Dan commented on 8/30/2012:

Glad you like this. It is a favorite of mine for when I have a bottle of St Germaine open. You might also try a touch of Campari added to a Pegu Club. This was a drink that got my wife to like Campari.

Delicious. Tried with half Campari, half Aperol per the suggestion below and it's quite good. Lovely pink color and just slightly bitter. Very appealing.

I really agree w/ the rest of the commentators here: 50/50 on the campari & aperol. Awesome drink! So do we call that substitution a Bitter Elder #2?

Dan commented on 10/14/2013:

For the bitter lover, the Bitter Elder works brilliantly using the inverted amaro template:
2 oz Campari
1 oz gin (ideally overproof & high juniper)
1/2 oz Elderflower liqueur
3/4 oz lemon (or lime)

jaba commented on 12/14/2013:

Made this with half Cynar/half Luxardo Bitter in place of the Campari.
Holy crap was that good.

Here's my take on this drink using the Campari/Aperol combo..

Lovely rose pink color with a very, very light nose that is gin forward with a touch of fruit sweetness from the Campari and Aperol - I’m somewhat stunned to not smell any of the St. Germaine. Sip is sweet and St. Germaine dominant on the front of the tongue while the midpalate sees the gin and its juniper notes come out immediately followed by the grapefruit-like bitterness from the Campari and Aperol. The back of the tongue and the swallow see that grapefruit profile grow stronger as the tart lemon juice develops. Amidst all these flavors the St. Germaine still darts in and out providing consistent sweet honey and lychee notes. The finish is pretty bitter with the most immediate flavor comparison being grapefruit juice with a hint of juniper and a good deal of elderflower. All in all, the grapefruit juice comparison is the most telling. Let’s say you were serving a customer at a bar and were thinking of something interesting to do for them with St. Germaine, or even trying to guide someone into drinking gin, and you asked them if they liked grapefruit juice, and they said yes, then you would no doubt have great success with this drink, however, if they say they don’t like grapefruit juice, then the chances are they will hate this drink.