Why “Made from Flowers” means more than you might think
"Made from Flowers" is one of the simplest things we say about Elderflower Mist.
It is also one of the things people are most curious about when they stop at our stall at a market, food and wine festival or some other event.
What flowers? How do you make a drink from them? And where does the alcohol come from?
The answer starts with our elderflowers.
Every spring, the elder trees at Widden Brook Farm begin another making season. We watch the flower heads develop, watch the weather and wait for the right time to pick.
Right now, the flowers are already coming out and standing between the hedgerow and the food forest, the white and pink flowers look like stars in the night sky against the dark green of the elder tree and it's impossible to miss the distinctive aroma of elderflower. It's not yet late spring when it almost feels like the heady scent is enveloping you but the flowers are covered in bees, both native and exotic, and we are constantly following their progress. We need 300 flowers to make a batch and they all need to be fully out in bloom for them to be ready to harvest.
Those flowers give Elderflower Mist its distinctive elderflower character. But that isn't their only job.
They also help start the ferment.
The flowers bring their own wild yeasts
On the elderflowers is a naturally occurring mix of wild nectar yeasts. It's something that is specific to the plant, other plants such as hibiscus, roses, even cabbages, have their own biome of yeasts that have evolved to live on that plant.
When we pick the flowers and begin a batch with our own mountain spring water, citrus and other botanicals that we grow on the farm or source organically, those wild yeasts come with them. They help kick off the natural fermentation that transforms those ingredients into Elderflower Mist.
So the elderflowers are doing two important jobs at once. They bring flavour and aroma to the drink, but they also bring the wild yeasts that help fermentation begin and that distinction matters.
Elderflower Mist isn't a conventional alcoholic drink that we make and then flavour with elderflower. Nor do we make a conventional alcoholic drink and remove most of the alcohol afterwards.
The flowers are there at the beginning, helping create the drink itself.
That is what we mean when we say "Made from Flowers".
From flowers to ferment
As fermentation begins, the yeasts get to work on the sugars and this is where the transformation happens. Fermentation produces alcohol and starts developing the more complex flavours and aromas that weren't there when the ingredients first came together.
Because we're working with a wild, natural ferment rather than trying to make nature behave exactly the same way every time, observation matters. We watch, we taste and we listen, we can tell if a ferment is going in the right direction from the sound of it; but above all we wait.
We make Elderflower Mist Sparkling in an unlined shed on top of a mountain more than 1,000 metres above sea level. Different batches can develop differently because of the season and what is happening with the wild yeasts and other ingredients. That's part of working with wild fermentation and one of the reasons we don't try to rush the process.
The finished Elderflower Mist is lightly alcoholic at 2–3 percent ABV. There are no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives, and it is sulphite free.
Then we put the ferment into the bottle
Fermentation doesn't simply stop when Elderflower Mist is bottled.
The next part of the process happens inside the bottle itself.
We bottle ferment in **pét nat style**, allowing fermentation to continue in the sealed bottle. The yeasts continue their work, producing carbon dioxide which, with nowhere to escape, dissolves into the liquid.
That's where the bubbles come from, we don't need to inject carbonation to create the sparkle, it develops through fermentation in the bottle.
And the bottle isn't simply becoming bubbly. During this time the drink continues to develop, with fermentation contributing alcohol, aroma, flavour and complexity.
If you've ever noticed the little sticker on one of our caps that says "I'm a pét nat. Open me slowly”, this is why.
There is still plenty of life in that bottle.
Flowers, yeast and time
This is also why Elderflower Mist takes time.
A batch generally ferments and develops for six to twelve months or more before we consider it ready.
The elderflowers belong to spring, but the finished bottle belongs to a much longer cycle.
What starts with freshly picked flowers moves through wild fermentation, bottling and further fermentation and development before eventually reaching the glass.
There isn't a useful shortcut through that process but we can observe it, we can manage it, we can make decisions as it develops. But we also have to give the ferment time to do its work.
That is what **Slow-Made** means to us. Not slowness for its own sake, but recognising that fermentation works to a biological timetable rather than a marketing calendar.
One flower, three different directions
The same fundamental process sits behind our three core Elderflower Mist varieties, but each takes the drink in a different direction.
Classic is the clearest place to meet the elderflower itself, alongside citrus, with ginger and lemongrass notes and a fresh finish.
Crimson Delight takes the naturally fermented base towards berry and floral complexity.
Wild Mountain Hop introduces hops, bringing bitterness and deeper ginger and caramel notes.
Different expressions, but the same starting point: elderflowers, their wild yeasts, natural fermentation and time.
So, is it really made from flowers?
Yes, and perhaps more literally than people first imagine. The elderflowers aren't simply there to make Elderflower Mist taste floral. They contribute flavour and aroma, but they also carry the wild nectar yeasts that help begin the natural fermentation.
Those yeasts transform sugars, produce alcohol and help create flavour and complexity. Fermentation continues after bottling in pét nat style, creating the natural sparkle and allowing the drink to keep developing over time.
Flower becomes ferment, ferment becomes something we can bottle and, given enough time, that bottle becomes Elderflower Mist.
That's why **Made from Flowers** isn't just a description of one of our ingredients, it's the story of how the drink begins.
