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
(127 ratings)
YieldsDrink
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From other users
  • Did the aperol/campari split as suggested in the comments. that gave it great grapefruit notes. Garnished with lemon peel
  • Yet to try
  • Up Campari to .75
  • Straight up pure grapefruit juice
  • grapefruit!
  • Went with the 0.25 Campari/0.25 Aperol split; excellent! In addition, Bitter Luxardo substituted for the Campari works well.
  • Nice, slightly bitter, pretty well balanced. Sort of a grapefruit vibe, as mentioned. Very pretty pink-ish color.
  • Beautiful colour! Definitely use a juniper forward London Dry for this one.
  • Wow. Fantastic cocktail. The degree to which this evokes grapefruit is, as other have suggested, uncanny.
  • yummy. Too much campari for R, but I like it
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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

Oh, fellas and ladies...this is one hellllllllllluvvva drink! Did it with Bombay, half Aperol half Campari. Awesome color, fantastic flava!

We have a restaurant here in Chicago called Parsons, they specialize in fried chicken and fish, and feature a totally fantastic Frozen Negroni. I'ma ask them if they'd consider putting a batch of these through their frosty machine! It'd be perfect.

12-04-2014...tried a further experiment, adding 3 drops of Brooklyn Hemispherical's Spicy Charred Pineapple bitters...Good Choice, accentuated the grapefruit notes even further.

Another batch, using Peychaud's, wasn't as successful, yielding a drink that lost the grapefruit and turned into more of a medicinal concoction.

Sorry, I'm gonna keep touting this drink...it's fantastic.  Made it for several friends, progeny and assorted drink enthusiasts...have received nothing but praise for it's restrained, sophisticated yet readily identifiable flavors.  Always use the charred pineapple bitters now, drink's color always gets mentioned.  A real winnah!

I agree. I just granted the Bitter Elder a 5 star curator review, which makes it an Editors Choice cocktail.

I 2nd the comparison to ruby grapefruit. I'm fine with bitter, but this is a funny combo of bitter and acidic. Made with mediocre gin, so maybe botanicals save it. For the record I'm not a grapefruit fan, so maybe it's me, too.

A G commented on 6/28/2020:

Went with equal Campari and Elderflower (3/4 each) to 1 1/2 Sipsmith and 1/2 Lemon Juice so that the Bitter Elder has some bitterness.   Very nice drink!  

Really enjoyed this one. Plymouth Gin. Used Aperol 1 for 1 in place of Campari, as I vastly prefer the former to the latter, and only keep one in house. Will make this one again for sure!

Used Beefeater gin and split the Campari and Aperol as suggested for the grapefruit taste. Carried it a step further and added 2 drops of Fees Bros grapefruit bitters. Great result. Rate 5. Wish comments would specify the gin used as different gins may change the resulting drink.