In 2008 Co founders Tom Chisholm & Rupert Waites, bound by a common love for the outdoors and considerable experience in the hospitality industry, hosted the first ever Buck & Birch dining event. Could they create a menu using only ingredients foraged from the landscape? Would diners care and connect?

Over the next decade the pair have hosted hundreds of guests, moved from garden shed to production facility, won awards, worked with industry leaders, world renowned chefs and bar tenders. They’ve appeared in feature films, on television and radio, educated, collaborated and innovated.

The ethos of the Buck and Birch is to go back to the source. To start looking again using a walkable radius and hand harvesting ingredients when they are at their best. It’s about capturing not just flavour but the essence of our surroundings, relying on traditional methods for a modern audience.

Here we have their Aelder Elixer, a wild elderberry (among others) liqueur. Made with a whisky spirit base. Bottled at 17% ABV.

The nose is pure rich, dark fruits. Very reminiscent of excellent young port. Plums, blackcurrents, gooseberries, elderberry. Very slight dusty malt note.

The palate is more refined than the nose with the fruits not dominating but instead exisitng in balance with sugar sweetness, vanilla, slight burnt caramel edge. Dusty malt note is joined by an oaky edge.

The finish is more rich dark fruits but with more oak than was on the nose.

A lovely port substitute for someone looking to expand their drinking horizons.

Can be drunk neat or used in a multitude of cocktails but my personal favourite is a shot of it in a glass of Prosecco.

#elderberries #chef #scotland #port