Four Booze-Free St. Patrick's Day Drinks to Buy for Your Designated Driver

By Tricia Woolfenden Wed., Mar. 16 2011 at 9:00 AM

Categories: Sips

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By admrboltz via Wikipedia Commons

Booze-free doesn't have to mean boring on St. Patrick's Day.

We won't patronize you with finger-wagging lectures about the importance of safe and sober driving -- particularly on notoriously boozy holidays like St. Patrick's Day -- but suffice it to say if you're lucky enough to have a buddy volunteering to act as your designated driver for an evening of debauchery, he deserves to be rewarded well for his efforts to keep you and everyone else on the road safe.

Hanging around with a bunch of tipsy "It's OK that I spit up green beer down the front of my shirt -- I'm 1/18th Irish" types can be a trying ordeal for someone who isn't partaking in the alcohol-soaked shenanigans. Show your appreciation for your DD by keeping him well supplied with festive, booze-free libations for the duration of the evening. Below are four suggestions:

4. Not-So-Wild Irish Rose -- The virgin version of this St. Patrick's Day concoction is made with equal parts lemon juice and cherry juice topped off with double the amount of soda water.

3. (Safe to Drive Home) Shillelagh -- Try to order any version of this frou-frou drink in a hard-drinking Irish bar and you're likely to be given your walking papers. But higher-end cocktail bars should have all of the ingredients -- powered sugar, lemon juice, peach juice, and strawberries or raspberries -- on hand. Also a good choice if you're entertaining at home and want to have something more festive for the DD than a two liter of Vernors.

2. Minty spritzer -- Somewhere between a mojito and limeade, this sparkling cocktail is made with fresh mint leaves, two ounces simple syrup, fresh lime juice, and soda water. A decidedly lighter and less-difficult-to-find minty St. Patrick's drink than the elusive Shamrock Shake (seriously -- is it to be found anywhere in South Florida?).

1. Fizzy juice -- The easiest and most reliable nonbooze "fancy" drink to order from a bar is a glass of cranberry juice on the rocks with a splash of soda water and a lime wedge. Heck -- you can even bring a bottle of green food coloring and add a few drops to make it more "authentically Irish" before handing it off to your friend. Slainte!

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