Vodka cocktails remind me of women I used to see slipping around campus on Friday nights en route to keggers. They’d travel in small herds, all identically clad in black booty pants and three-inch heels. And they were fun to watch because they tended to huddle close, so if one of them encountered a treacherous patch of black ice hidden below the crackly Vermont snow and fell on her butt, she tended to take a few friends down with her. This was a funny sight, unless you were tripping on acid, in which case it was scary. Or so I’ve been told.

Hey speaking of vodka cocktails, here’s a refreshing summer drink from Sazerac that features ginger beer—a tasty fizz I tend to favor with whiskey, but which makes a delicious accompaniment with anything appley. Like, say, apple juice. The drink also calls for Grey Goose Poire. Now, I’ve heard people say Grey Goose is a big ripoff but to me it tastes better—smoother, cleaner, Frencher—than other vodkas. Add poire and, well, yum. Enjoy.

1 3/4 oz Grey Goose Poire
1 1/4 oz Unfiltered Apple Juice
1/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup
Ginger Beer

Measure first four ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a highball glass half full of cubed ice. Add ginger beer to top of glass. Garnish with a swirl of lemon zest twist.