The Clermont County Recorder’s Office is the Judge’s Choice winner of the Clermont Safe Communities Mocktail competition.

The annual event promotes making available a fun non-alcoholic drink for guests during holiday parties.

Mona Kirker with the Recorder’s Office served up the blue brew from a multi-story fountain, as a tree decked with blue ornaments twinkled nearby, a blue-robed Santa looked on, and Elvis crooned Blue Christmas in the background.

“We thought this would be a fun drink with a tropical feel,” said Kirker.

The yummy concoction features two cups each of orange-pineapple juice, sweet and sour mix, tropical colada, ginger ale, lemon lime soda, blue Hawaiian punch, Rose’s blue raspberry mixer and some added blue food coloring!

Mona Kirker and Mary Jo Joseph with the Clermont County Recorder’s Office watch Carol Yeager with the General Health District sample their Mocktail entry, Blue Christmas.
“December is generally a difficult month for the patrol, due to increased drunk driving arrests,” said Lt. Randy McElfresh, commander of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Batavia Post, who served as a Mocktails judge. “This year our post has already had 700 impaired driving arrests; around 40 percent of those we picked up are repeat offenders. Events like this one encourage people to offer non-alcohol drinks at their parties and help us get the message out to have a designated driver who agrees not to drink alcohol during that event.”

Also serving as a judge at the Mocktails competition was Clermont Municipal Court Judge Anthony Brock.

“This is such a positive event to highlight the negative effects of drinking and driving,” Judge Brock said. “We see the sad repercussions of drinking and driving daily in the courts.”

Other winners of the 2010 Mocktails competition: The People’s Choice award for Best Mocktail went to Clermont Juvenile Court for the Green with Envy brew, Best Display was awarded to the Clermont General Health District for Sobering Sorbet, and the Best Drinking and Driving Message award went to the Clermont Health District’s Nursing Division for Santa’s Little Helper.

“This competition among Clermont County agencies and departments gets more creative each year,” said Mocktails organizer Martha Enriquez with Clermont Safe Communities.

For a complete list of recipes from this year’s Mocktails competition, check the Clermont County January 2011 electronic newsletter, available later this month at www.ClermontCountyOhio.gov.