Huckleberry Roffignac

From Maylie's Restaurant, New Orleans

You can almost think that this rich berry-flavored antique cocktail is really good for you. One of the oldest cocktails in New Orleans, the Roffignac, is made here with our Good Food Award-Winning Huckleberry Shrub.

I started drinking cocktails at eighteen in New Orleans since I was lucky enough to start college there in 1968. Old pals of my parents would drag me to Maylie's (est. 1876) for my favorites: stuffed mirilton and a frosty Roffignac.

The original cocktail was made with a raspberry shrub, but I think it's better with our huckleberry. The restaurant and the decrepit staff are all dead now, but this great cocktail is still remembered with great affection by a few like me.

• 1½ oz. Bourbon, Cognac or good brandy
• 1/3 oz. Wine Forest Wild Huckleberry Shrub
• 1/3 oz. Simple Syrup
• About 2 oz. Club Soda

Original Way:

1. Combine all ingredients except the soda in a big rocks glass.
2. Stir, add ice cubes, top with soda.
3. Stir again.

Alternative Way if you'd like it less dilute:

1. Put first three ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
2. Add ice and shake.
3. Strain into a chilled glass and top with approximately 1½ oz. of soda water.