Faux Real is a new high-end mocktails shop with no booze, as the alcohol-free, mocktail trend spawns ever more ways to recreate the spirit of drinking without the spirits.
It’s no secret that the Bay Area has been getting drunk as hell during the pandemic. But we are now in the second year of this public health disaster, and some people are finding the wisdom to hit the brakes. And for those people, there is now a Santa Clara County retailer catering specifically to your non-alcoholic needs. The Bay Area News Group brings us the story of a non-alcoholic mocktail store called Faux Real, which opened earlier in February in Los Gatos.
“Faux Real came out of wanting to live a healthier lifestyle,” owner Yvonne Khananis told the Bay Area News Group. “Especially during COVID, because once the pandemic hit, we all started drinking way more than normal.”
There does not appear to be a website or any social media presence yet for the store, which is 300 North Santa Cruz Avenue, a few doors down from Khananis’ other specialty food store Grocer + Goddess. But per the news group, the shop “carries dozens of zero-proof spirits like gin, tequila and rum, non-alcoholic wine and beer, aperitifs and more,” which “typically come from small batch, family-owned businesses.”
The shop also carries an array of shakers, mixers and cocktail accessories to recreate the experience, and hosts a “sober hour” every Saturday from 1-3 p.m.
Ironically, the name Faux Real itself came from a drunken story. After a round of daytime drinking earlier in the pandemic, Khananis says she told her boyfriend, “I need to stop drinking, like, for real.”
“I was like, ‘We just came up with the name for the store!’”
Related: Bizzy's Dry Bar Debuts In Oakland With An All Alcohol-Free Mocktail Menu
Image: Helena Yankovska via Unsplash
