As Father’s Day approaches, Tony and Christian Vieira are celebrating more than family. The father-son duo is building a business together. The two are co-founders of mōcean drinkwerx, a wellness-focused energy drink company they say was created for adults who have outgrown traditional energy drinks.
Tony Vieira retired in 2025 after a 36-year career in the beverage industry that included leadership roles with Anheuser-Busch, Coors, and Mark Anthony Brewing, where he served as vice president of brewing and quality and helped develop White Claw. His son, Christian, brought a different perspective to the venture after working as a producer in film, television, and audio.
“I’m Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of mōcean drinkwerx, which in plain English means my dad makes the drinks and I make people care about it,” said Christian.”
The idea for mōcean began several years earlier, shortly after the birth of Christian’s first daughter.
“It was about two in the morning,” said Christian Vieira. “My wife had just delivered our first daughter, Ava, and I slipped down to the hospital gift shop to grab something caffeinated.”
Standing in front of a cooler stocked with energy drinks, he said he realized none of the products felt designed for consumers in his stage of life.
“I had just become a father,” said Christian. “I have just lived through arguably the most adult moment of my life, and not a single one of these drinks respects that.”
The experience stayed with him and eventually became the basis for conversations with his father about launching a beverage company together. When Christian shared the idea, Tony Vieira said he immediately saw a larger industry trend.
“Why hasn’t the energy drink market grown up as consumers have evolved?” said Tony. “30 years after Red Bull introduced us to energy drinks, the industry leaders continued to market unhealthy drinks to a fairly narrow subset of consumers, primarily males 16-24 years old.”
According to the Vieiras, that question shaped the company’s mission. Their target audience includes working professionals, parents, and others seeking an alternative to traditional energy drinks, which have historically been marketed toward younger consumers.
“We’re doing something different — we’re making a drink that says we see you,” said Christian. “The nurse pulling a double shift. The parent running on three hours of sleep. The executive who needs to perform without crashing at 2 p.m.”
The company’s slogan, “Make Adulting Easier,” reflects that focus.
For Tony Vieira, developing the product meant drawing on decades of experience in beverage formulation. He said the recipe was influenced in part by remedies prepared by his late mother, Corina, who used ingredients such as echinacea, elderberry, ginseng, vitamin C, magnesium, and zinc when family members were sick.
Those ingredients became the foundation of mōcean’s formula, which the company markets as providing daily immune support alongside moderate caffeine levels.
Ingredients include:
- Purified Filtered Water
- Natural Flavors
- Citric Acid
- Organic Green Tea Caffeine
- Magnesium Citrate, Shiso (Perilla) Extract
- Echinacea Extract, Panax Ginseng Extract
- Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)
- Ocean Salt
- Stevia Sweetener
- Elderberry Extract
- Zinc
- Vitamin B12
The partnership also reflects the complementary skills of its founders. Tony oversees product development and formulation, while Christian leads branding and marketing.
“My dad looks at a can of mōcean and sees an ingredient panel,” said Christian. “I look at the same can and see a person — specifically, the exhausted, overextended, slightly-too-old-for-Monster adult standing in a convenience store at 7 a.m. trying to make a good decision.”
Despite their different backgrounds, both say working together has strengthened their relationship.
“We actually work very well together,” said Tony Vieira. “Our relationship helps us make good decisions quickly for the brand.
Christian acknowledged that blending family and business can be challenging.
“Every family dinner has an agenda item,” said Christian. “Every phone call is potentially a board meeting. Thanksgiving becomes a quarterly review.”
Still, he said the partnership offers a level of trust that can be difficult to find elsewhere.
The company currently sells its products through Amazon and hopes to expand into retail locations in Florida in 2027.
Looking ahead, Tony Vieira said he hopes mōcean can secure a meaningful share of the U.S. energy drink market while supporting charitable organizations aligned with the company’s values.
For Christian, success is measured differently.
“The little girl who inspired this whole thing will be 10 years old by then,” he said. “I want her to look at what her dad built and understand that he made something honest.”
As they prepare to celebrate Father’s Day, the Vieiras say the business represents more than a beverage company. From a grandmother’s home remedies to a father’s industry expertise and a son’s experience as a new parent, it is the product of three generations of family influence.
“I think about Tony making Chicken Adobo on Father’s Day to remember his mother Corina, the same woman whose remedies are essentially the backbone of our formula, and I realize that Father’s Day, for our family, has always been about more than one generation at a time,” said Christian.
For more information, visit HERE.
