Los Gatos Weekly Times

New zero-proof bottle shop in Los Gatos makes mocktails `grown up'

- By Hannah Kanik hkanik@ bayareanew­sgroup.com

Faux Real is bringing “grown-up” mocktails to Los Gatos.

The nonalcohol­ic bottle shop, located at 300 N. Santa Cruz Ave., carries dozens of zero-proof spirits like gin, tequila and rum, non-alcoholic wine and beer, aperitifs and more.

“Faux Real came out of wanting to live a healthier lifestyle,” owner Yvonne Khananis says. “Especially during COVID, because once the pandemic hit, we all started drinking way more than normal. … This was a more fun way to approach being sober-conscious.”

The shop, which opened earlier this month, also carries glassware, mocktail shakers, mixers and accessorie­s. Khananis says she's working on a small mocktail recipe book to help customers craft unique drinks.

“It's a fun new way of living and drinking,” she adds.

Khananis says she got the idea to open a mocktail bottle shop in Los Gatos after she was leaving a boozy brunch one weekend in April 2021. 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!'” Khananis said, changing `for' to `faux' to highlight the imitation alcohol.

She found some zeroproof spirits to sell in her other store, Grocer + Goddess, to see how customers responded to the products. She leased out a storefront in the same shopping center later that spring for the Faux Real storefront.

Drinking mocktails instead of cocktails has helped her live a more healthy lifestyle, Khananis

says. During the pandemic, she'd drink wine every night. Now, she says, she only drinks alcohol on the weekends if she's craving it.

“The point is for people to be sober-conscious and enjoy a mocktail that is grown-up. So it's not a kiddie cocktail… like grenadine and Sprite. It's actually made to taste like an adult beverage, without the effect of getting drunk.”

All of the products in the shop are sourced by Khananis and typically come from small batch, family-owned

businesses. Most customers comment that the zeroproof booze isn't an exact dupe for liquor.

“When people come to the tastings … they say `This doesn't taste like gin,'” she said. “Well, it does; it just doesn't taste like gin with alcohol. The alcohol has the burn; it's the thing that makes it go boom in your mouth. (The zero-proof alcohol) is very clean.”

Faux Real hosts a “sober hour” from 1 to 3 p.m. every Saturday to encourage sober socializin­g.

 ?? PHOTO BY HANNAH KANICK ?? Owner Yvonne Khananis says she opened Faux Real, a mocktail shop in downtown Los Gatos, for people who want to be “sober-conscious” to be able to enjoy a nonalcohol­ic adult beverage.
PHOTO BY HANNAH KANICK Owner Yvonne Khananis says she opened Faux Real, a mocktail shop in downtown Los Gatos, for people who want to be “sober-conscious” to be able to enjoy a nonalcohol­ic adult beverage.

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