Turning obstacles to opportunities
Steven Fretz introduces nonalcoholic drink menu at Coast Range
NOT NEW, BUT IMPROVED: Located at 1635 Mission Dr. in Solvang, Coast Range serves up drinks at the Vaquero Bar Wednesday through Monday from 10 a.m. to midnight and Tuesday starting at 5 p.m. Coast Range can be found on Instagram and Facebook under its name. For menus and more information, visit coastrange.restaurant.
Steven Fretz had to be revived by doctors on Nov. 6 after he drank himself into cirrhosis. Still in his hospital bed, he was given two choices: stop drinking alcohol and live or keep drinking and die.
Fretz had been a chef for 25 years at that point, making his living in a drinking world that was slowly sucking the life from him.
Cooks are nearly twice as likely to die from alcohol addiction compared to the average person, according to Business Insider. American Addiction Centers found that 40% of food service workers consider casual substance use to be a part of their work culture, while only 31% don’t use drugs and alcohol at all.
After spending two weeks in the hospital, Fretz made his decision: it was time to go sober.
On June 2, Fretz, executive chef and owner of the Coast Range steakhouse in Solvang, added a new drink menu for patrons looking for an alternative to alcohol. The menu consists of six cocktails, three wines, four beers, and two adaptogens—all of which are nonalcoholic.
“I hadn't even thought of the nonalcoholic program until I went to the Montage Hotel in Park City, Utah,” Fretz said. “I saw this beautiful nonalcoholic cocktail list, and I felt jealous.”
49% of Americans are trying to drink less alcohol in 2025, according to advertising group NC Solutions. Nonalcoholic beverages now comprise a $3 billion industry, a November report from the Chamber of Commerce said. Market researcher NielsenIQ reported a 31% increase in retail sales for nonalcoholic drinks from 2023 to 2024 and predicts sales will double in the next five years.
Looking to step foot into the budding industry, Fretz designed a nonalcoholic cocktail menu that stands out for its unique flavors and mixes. After he began making the drinks and realized the emerging solution seemed diluted, Fretz even created his own housemade syrup using Coast Range’s pastry department’s tub of glucose, water, citric acid powder, and liquid stevia to give them the viscosity of their alcoholic counterparts.
The Mint to be Sober consists of Lyre’s White Cane Spirit, yuzu, mint, and blueberries and sells for $17 a cocktail. Fretz said Coast Range dehydrates its own blueberries, which it gets from Chavez Family Farms in Santa Maria.
The Tie One Off, Coast Range’s nonalcoholic Mai Thai, also comes with Lyre’s White Cane Spirit but with additions of orange, pineapple, and Fretz’s housemade amaretto syrup. Fretz said he bought all-natural alcohol-free almond extract and brown, red, and yellow food coloring to make the amaretto syrup.
“And then, we put Luxardo cherries on them, just like you would with Mai Tais,” Fretz said.
The Sunshine Spritz is Coast Range’s version of an Aperol spritz, a popular Italian cocktail known for its bright orange color and bittersweet taste. Coast Range’s drink is made of red grapefruit soda, a nonalcoholic sparkling wine known as Zonin Cuvée, and Mionetto Aperitivo for that bitter, orange flavor.
For the more advanced drinkers, the Choose Your Own Adventure cocktail features a nonalcoholic Pathfinder spirit made from hemp in Portland, Oregon.
“It tastes identical to a Fernet-Branca in my opinion,” Fretz said. “This one probably won’t be the most popular on the menu, but it’s my favorite.”
Coast Range even has nonalcoholic bitters— concentrated flavor extracts made from botanical ingredients to enhance cocktail flavors and add depth. Along with the Pathfinder spirit, the Choose Your Own Adventure also includes orange bitters and ginger beer.
Just like Coast Range’s food menu, the nonalcoholic drink menu will change frequently, Fretz said. He said one goal of his is to eventually increase to a dozen wines.
“In the last year, we’ve been getting a lot of people asking about nonalcoholic drinks,” Coast Range bartender Victor Vasquez, who’s been serving drinks for over 20 years, said. “We just wanted to expand the menu to include those who don’t drink alcohol.”
As someone who’s used to pouring basic drinks like Jack and Cokes, Vasquez said serving craft cocktails makes him feel more like an artist than a robot performing the same monotonous tasks. He said this allows him to showcase his personality, creating a friendlier and more pleasant atmosphere for bar patrons.
Fretz said he understands the alcohol drinkers skeptical of switching. He said he felt the same way before becoming sober.
“I had done the same thing I'm sure a lot of people have done in last year—rolled my eyes and said, ‘Why would you have a nonalcoholic cocktail? Why would you drink a beer without alcohol? What’s the point,’” Fretz said. “I missed the flavor profiles. I missed sitting down with people and having that camaraderie.”
Instead of to get drunk, drinking nonalcoholic beverages is “more about taking time out of your day to decompress,” Fretz said. He said having that moment to slow down, sit, and talk to people is crucial in today’s fast-paced world.
Reflecting the ultimatum the doctor gave him seven months ago, Fretz said he feels he’s been given a second chance at life.
“You either shit or get off the pot,” Fretz said. “I do not miss alcohol in my body in any way, shape, or form—I’ve lost 45 pounds. My golf game is phenomenal—If I start drinking again tomorrow, I'd be dead in a month. I want to live. It wasn’t a hard decision for me at all.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2025, at https://www.santamariasun.com/food/coast-range-steakhouse-chef-and-owner-steven-fretz-introduces-nonalcoholic-drink-menu-16568094