I brought my own briefcase of secret ingredients (pictured in the background).

So I didn’t win the mocktail competition against the Mayor and I’m a little bitter. At first I blamed the Russians for possibly interfering, and then I moved on to blaming the Irish — just because they’re an easy target.

But all kidding aside, I don’t think the right ingredients were on hand in order for any of us to really produce a great drink (there was no orange juice, which was a third of my recipe), and we probably should have each made three drinks instead of just one — that was then poured out into sample cups for three judges.

My cocktail was built in layers and topped with Butchertown Soda and grenadine. So by taking my drink and pouring it out into cups, it completely deconstructed the flavors. The first judge got all my soda, the second one got the pineapple and lime juices, and the third judge got the muddled jalepeno and that which had sank to the bottom.

Oh well.

Mayor Fischer did have a pretty drink, although he made quite a mess whipping it up. He might be the winner this time, but if there’s another competition in our future, I’ll make sure I’m the one stocking the bar!

Is it too soon to call for a rematch?