In 2026, almost every bar you walk into either offers a mocktail printed on the menu or will whip one up upon request. Dating back to the mid-19th century, a mocktail is a beverage composed with intention to simulate the cocktail experience without alcohol. Sporting a wide range of syrups, sodas, teas, and infusions, non-alcoholic options have been notoriously hard to master. Most mocktails fall flat, lacking texture, balance, and originality. So, what is the key to a masterful mocktail and where can you find one in Long Beach? The answer may be more whimsical than you’d expect.
Take a seat and leaf through the few pages until you find the non-alcoholic options listed under the Mocktail section in the very back. Excluding the obligatory N/A beer and house made ginger beer, there are five intentional mocktails available. For a refreshing and fanciful experience, order the Fountain of Youth by Michael G. Served in a tall etched Collins and garnished with a leafy bouquet of mint, you’ll notice a striking ombre of deep purple, soft lilac, and a translucent topper cut by a cartoonish black and white striped straw.
You’d drive right past it heading north on Pacific, but if you keep your eyes peeled for a fairylike lady-wolf, you’ll see The Wicked Wolf printed in blue and gold. Three years in, The Wicked Wolf is a charming café and lounge moonlighting as a romantic cocktail bar. You walk into moody purple walls dripping in dreamy storybook totems like miscellaneous teacups and floating light fixtures. Straight ahead is a massive mural of plush greenery and old trees tricking the eye with ivy breaking through the fourth dimensional wall and sucking you into what seems like an ethereal forest of Nordic folklore. Approach the sleek, backlit bar top for a warm welcome and a pocket pamphlet menu.
Carbonated alongside lime super-juice, brightened by mint and cucumber, sweetened with simple syrup, and made magical by butterfly pea, Fountain of Youth is balanced, semi-sweet, and bursting with cool and sharp herbal notes. Lovingly labeled “slime” behind their bar, the lime super-juice provides a profound and deliberate acidity through a popular process called acid adjusting. The reimagined acidity and rich sweetness combined cosplay as a viscosity most similar to that of a traditional cocktail.
Mocktails go wrong with the texture rather than taste. Alcohol has a velvety and warm feel, with tannins tickling the cheeks as sugar rounds out the heat of ethanol. It’s difficult to replicate the complex experience of a distilled product, but an interesting consistency can trick the pallet. Flavor is dependent upon the feel, and Wicked Wolf grabs your attention with exciting textures and follows up with a simplistic symphony of sapidity. Skip the humiliation ritual of guzzling overpriced pineapple juice and enjoy a sophisticated mocktail amongst friends who imbibe Old Fashions at Wicked Wolf, where all are welcome.