A Tribute To "Tales"

We are on the first day of Tales of the Cocktail...I'm not there and I'm not happy about it, hence for the last few days I have been pining in an attempt to make myself feel better, with various drinks of "Big-Easy" descent, one of which I will review today, the others will come soon...

For those of you that don't know, Tales is an internationally acclaimed festival of cocktail culture, held in New Orleans once a year, that brings together the best and brightest of the cocktail community for a five-day celebration of the history and artistry of making drinks...If you need more info though, Google it...Time is short...

Now that the introduction is over, I'll get down to the important part...The drink that Im going to write about is...drum roll...NOT The Sazerac, or the New Orleans (Ramo's) Fizz...Surprised??
Although they are truly great drinks and they hold their place, when made properly, with every drink-lover in the world, I think (and I'm talking about in Europe) they have grown a little "big-headed" over the last year or two...

There are hundreds of drinks that originated in the "Swampy City," before, most certainly during and after prohibition. A decent way to review them would be to take a glance at "Famous New Orleans Drinks & How To Mix 'Em, by: Stanley Clisby Arthur 1937."

Now, I havent made them all, but apart from the usual suspects, there was one that when I made them, really stood out for those two perfect reasons...taste and simplicity...The drink is called;

The Roffignac

Count Louis Philippe Joseph de Roffignac was Mayor of New Orleans from 1820 to 1828, and was famous for, amongst other things, introducing street lighting to the city and laying the first cobblestones in the French Quarter. What I haven't been able to come across is how his name came about for the drink...

What I do know though, is that the Roffignac is essentially a Highball, the name given to a family of mixed drinks that are composed of an alcoholic base spirit and a larger proportion of a non-alcoholic mixer.

This particular Highball consists of:

6 cl (2 Oz) of Cognac
3 cl (1 Oz) of Raspberry Syrup
Soda Water

How easy is that?? No shaking for 12 minutes, stirring, muddling, layering 6 different spirits, or coating the glass...just a fantastically refreshing drink that isn't wrapped up in the complexities of the bitter's to fancy brandy balance...It just does exactly what it says on the tin..!

So in tribute to Tales...mix one up, grab a deckchair in the sun and sip away...It must be 5 o'clock somewhere right..?