Tustin mixologist Derick Santiago builds a new kind of drinking culture ...Middle East

On a recent afternoon in Tustin, Derick Santiago stood behind the bar at his home studio mixing drinks that, at first glance, looked like something you would order at a serious cocktail bar. Two violet-hued in a coup and highball glass, the other tinted orange in a lowball. There was citrus in the air, the bite of ginger and the quiet confidence of an expert who has made these drinks dozens of times before.

The only difference? Not a drop of alcohol, anywhere in sight.

Santiago, 39, is the creator of @MocktailWiz, author of two mocktail books and one of Southern California’s most visible voices in the fast-evolving world of zero-proof drinks. His path here wasn’t plotted out as brand strategy or a pivot to wellness. It started, as many drinking stories do, with grief.

“I decided to stop drinking,” he said. “Not even knowing if it was going to be for a week or for a month or forever. I was starting to drink a lot because I lost my mom in 2020.” What had once been weekend drinking crept into weeknights. “Even though I didn’t have any wreckage, it was starting to feel off,” he explained. “I needed to change something.” He added that alcohol consumption “was a crutch” that, for him, “was actually a cage.”

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But stopping drinking didn’t mean he had to stop living. His alcohol-free change began in 2022 with a pantry experiment: a spicy margarita riff made with pineapple juice, lime, Tajín and jalapeño. No tequila, no problem. He muddled fresh jalapeño slices for a heat that mimicked the burn of ethanol. Then he used pineapple and lime for the bright, acidic top notes and topped it with a splash of soda for effervescence. And the final touch? A chili-lime salt rim.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this kind of scratches the itch,’” he said. “And since then, every weekend I would think, ‘What ingredient, what recipe do I make?’”

At the time, Santiago wasn’t working in food or hospitality. In fact, the computer science major has worked in the high-velocity world of consulting since 2006. Born and raised in the Philippines, he arrived in the U.S. in 2013 for what was supposed to be a one-year assignment that turned permanent. The cultural shift included at least one surprise: American workplace drinking culture, where, during off hours, being part of them team means having a glass in your hand.

“In the Philippines, happy hours were kind of centered around karaoke,” he said, with a laugh “Maybe I wasn’t seeking it, so I wasn’t seeing the drinking, but when I moved here, happy hours were drinking-centric. I was kind of culture shocked.” At his first U.S. work happy hour, nerves took over. “They asked me what I wanted to drink, and I didn’t know what to order. In a panic, I said, ‘Champagne.’ They laughed at me,” he said. “After that, I thought, ‘Oh, I need to train for happy hours.’”

Years later, when Santiago stopped drinking, he filled that social and sensory gap with experimentation. He began posting his drinks on his personal Instagram. When he made them public, the response surprised him. “Thousands of views and hundreds of likes,” he noted. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh, there’s an interest in this.’”

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Santiago launched his dedicated mocktail account in July 2022. What started as a creative outlet — and, he admits, motivation to stay alcohol-free — has grown into a business with brand partnerships, classes and two published titles: “The Mocktail Club” and a companion recipe card deck, “Make It a Mocktail.”

Along the way, Santiago has become a sort of evangelist for a word some in the industry love to hate: mocktail. “It’s controversial,” he said of “mocktail.” It has had a bad rap of being just a mixture of juices like grenadine, Sprite, the Shirley Temple, the Hollywood-born tipple often considered the first mocktail. But he’s not interested in abandoning it. “What it literally means in a cocktail without the alcohol,” he explained. “I want to redefine or reclaim the word mocktail, that it can actually be complex and delicious.”

He slightly bristles at terms like “zero-proof” being treated as inherently superior. “If you say ‘zero proof’ not everybody knows what that means,” he said. “Mocktail is more recognizable. Whatever you want to call it, it’s to make not drinking alcohol acceptable and cool.”

Above all, complexity is his north star. “I like something with an oomph to it,” he shared. “I like bitterness. I look for texture because it contributes to the overall mouthfeel.” Ginger, gloriously, shows up often in Santiago’s recipes. “If you don’t want tequila-like or any alcohol-tasting ingredients, I recommend using ginger shots” to parallel the booze’s ignition. Similar to how vegan fare need not rely on meat substitutes, he’s drawn to “spirits” that don’t try to copy gin or tequila. “Brands are coming up with their own elixirs that are not copying the taste of alcohol,” he said. “They’re just their own thing.” Further, zero-proof gin or zero-proof whiskey can be triggering for people who identify as alcoholics in recovery; mocktails that don’t wink to their alcoholic-laced forebears are a boon for recovery people who yearn for something more than Diet Coke or iced tea on restaurant menus.

And Orange County, he said, helps fuels his flavor palette.

“There are a lot of Asian supermarkets here, which I feel lucky about,” Santiago said. “I can be closer to my roots.” Stores like Filipino grocery chain Seafood City and Island Pacific carry calamansi, the tart Filipino citrus he uses in his drinks like the calamansi martini. Farmers markets, including the one in Irvine, are regular stops when he’s brainstorming recipes. Other ingredients that make their way into his liquid creations are lavender, lychee syrup, prickly pear and tart cherry juice, to name a few.

That mix of nostalgia and curiosity defines his culinary styles. One of his signature drinks, the Fiery Squad, is his booze-free take on the classic Mexican Firing Squad, layered with citrus, grenadine, bitters, and, of course, a robust wallop of ginger. “For someone who’s a drinker, I give them that because it has a kick.”

He can also be found teaching mocktail classes at alcohol-free lounges, bottle shops and even high schools. “I always say, use whatever is in your house,” he said. “You’re already breaking the rules because you’re not using alcohol, so why not have fun?”

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His online following (more than 16,000 followers on Instagram) has led to brand work, including campaigns with national kitchen appliance companies and nonalcoholic brands. One viral video featured a bacon-fat-washed espresso martini-style martini. “There was a shock factor to it,” he said, smiling. “That video hit a million views.”

Still, he frames it as less an influencer life and more as creative services. “I was just doing it for myself,” he said. “No matter what the views are, I was just doing it because I was enjoying it and I think it’s helpful to provide recipes.”

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When asked what’s driving the broader rise in nonalcoholic culture — Gallup data from 2025 shows U.S. alcohol consumption has dropped to a 90-year low, with only 54% of adults reporting they drink, down from 62% in 2023 — Santiago points to wellness culture, generational shifts and the normalization of taking booze breaks. “You don’t have to label yourself,” he said. “You can question your relationship with alcohol and you can stop, you can stay stopped. It’s up to you.”

For Santiago, that personal decision reshaped his evenings, his weekends and, unexpectedly, his career. What began as one jalapeño-spiked concoction in a quiet kitchen has become a body of work — colorful, layered and alcohol-free — that’s helping redefine what a nightcap can look like.

“My goal is simple,” he said. “I want people to feel excited about what’s in their glass, even if there’s no alcohol in it.”

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