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Elderflower Mist Sparkling begins with elderflowers grown at Widden Brook Farm. The flowers contribute both their distinctive flavour and aroma and the naturally occurring wild nectar yeasts that help initiate fermentation.
The elderflowers are combined with Widden Brook Farm’s own mountain spring water, citrus and other farm-grown or organically sourced botanicals, and the wild yeasts carried on the flowers help begin the natural ferment. During fermentation, sugars are transformed, alcohol is produced and the drink develops greater flavour and aromatic complexity.
Elderflower Mist is then bottle fermented in pét nat style. Fermentation continues inside the sealed bottle, producing carbon dioxide that dissolves into the drink and creates its natural sparkle while the Elderflower Mist continues to develop.
The process generally takes six to twelve months or more. The finished Elderflower Mist is lightly alcoholic at 2–3% ABV, contains no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives, and is sulphite free.
That is why Widden Brook Farm says Elderflower Mist is "Made from Flowers; the elderflowers don't simply flavour the drink. They are part of the natural fermentation that creates it.
Once there is a bottle in the fridge, what do you do with it? Last...
Elderflower Mist is a naturally fermented, lightly alcoholic sparkling drink made from elderflowers rather than grapes, grain or apples. It is made in small batches at Widden Brook Farm using farm-grown elderflowers, citrus, organic sugar and pure water from the farm's mountain spring, with different varieties bringing in ingredients such as berries or hops.
The range sits at around 1.9 to 3.0 percent alcohol by volume. Elderflower Mist is fermented in vats before bottling, where natural yeasts continue to develop the drink in pét nat style. It has sweetness, but the flavour is balanced by acidity, citrus, fermentation and, depending on the variety, fruit or hop bitterness.
While developing a new indoor backwall for Handmade Canberra in 2026, Shireen and Darren made sure the wombat and spring from their existing Widden Brook Farm market artwork remained in the design. The wombat is Wally, and he represents a real Black Summer story from 2019.
As the Gospers Mountain fire moved closer to Widden Brook Farm over about five weeks, drought had left the farm almost without water. The dams were dry, irrigation to the hazelnut orchard had been turned off, the household tank was nearly empty and the spring-fed water-supply dam was dry. Near that dam, Shireen noticed a small patch of mud where a wombat had been digging. The disturbance revealed a tiny underground spring still flowing at about 1,000 litres a day.
The water was collected in a small tank and piped roughly 500 metres downhill into the domestic supply, while the overflow remained available to wildlife. That small flow gave Shireen and Darren enough domestic water to stay and defend the farm when the fire moved through a couple of weeks later.
The spring Wally led them to is the same spring that provides the pure water used to make Elderflower Mist Sparkling today. For Widden Brook Farm it is, quite literally, a life source, which is why Wally and the spring remain part of both the outdoor gazebo backwall and the new indoor Handmade Canberra wall.
Winter slows pasture growth on Nullo Mountain, and this year feral animal pressure has left some paddocks with less feed than Widden Brook Farm would like heading into spring. At the same time, Maggie and her calf are being managed separately from the main herd so Maggie can have a full year to recover after an operation late last year. As warmer weather slowly lifts grass growth, the farm is balancing stock movement with the time pasture and animals need to recover. It is a practical example of Holistic Management in action: respond to what the land and livestock are actually telling you, rather than forcing them to fit a fixed plan.
May asks for a different kind of enjoyment: warm rooms, cool glasses, richer food and a bottle ritual that feels considered without becoming heavy.