elder | The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails

refers to any one of several species of flowering shrubs or trees in the Sambucus genus found in temperate and subtropical zones around the world. Both the fragrant white elderflowers and the deep purple-black elderberries (especially of S. nigra) are used as drink ingredients. Recently, elderflower-flavored syrups and liqueurs, exemplified by St-Germain, have become popular cocktail ingredients. The berries have been used for centuries to darken the color and increase the fruit flavor of certain wines, most famously ports. By the 1840s, elderberry use was so widespread in Portugal that the prominent winemaker Baron Forrester railed against them in a famous screed titled “A Word or Two about Port.” Though mid-twentieth-century Ports can be found that betray their use, the practice seems finally to have passed by the wayside.