Happy Skipper (Alcoholic Ordinary Drink Highball glass)

The Happy Skipper is a cocktail that lives up to its name in the same way that a golden retriever lives up to its breed description — enthusiastically, unapologetically, and with zero awareness that anything in the world could ever be wrong. This is a drink that practically bounces out of the glass and into your evening, and you will be grateful it did. It begins with spiced rum, which is basically regular rum that went on a spice tour and came back with a more interesting personality and a slight swagger. Then it meets ginger-flavored soda, and the resulting combination is the kind of pairing that makes you believe in fate, or at least in the power of putting two delicious things together and seeing what happens. A squeeze of green citrus juice adds just enough brightness to keep everything honest, and the whole thing comes together in a way that apparently — and this is the wildest part — tastes like cream soda. Yes, cream soda. That nostalgic, childhood-memory-in-a-bottle flavor somehow emerges from a combination of grown-up ingredients, like a magic trick you can drink. The Happy Skipper is the cocktail for people who unironically enjoy nautical metaphors, who have been called "bubbly" more than once, and who believe that every gathering is improved by a drink that tastes like a carnival treat. It is sweet without being too sweet, spiced without being aggressive, and fizzy enough to make any Tuesday feel like a Friday. One sip and you are smiling. Two sips and you are telling everyone nearby about this amazing drink you discovered. Three sips and you are the Happy Skipper, steering your evening directly toward good times with the confidence of someone who knows exactly where they are going, even if they are just following the current.