Some people look at a mountain and see a party. Ben Coombes used to be one of them: magnums of rosé at lunch, shots on the chairlift, and more near misses than he can count. Then he tried something nobody in a ski resort does. He did a sober season.

Now Ben runs Soberski, alcohol-free chalet weeks in Méribel in the French Alps, and he’s our newest Sober Curator contributor. Alysse and Tamar (a snowboarder, it turns out) talk with him about what happens when you keep the mountain and lose the après.

In this episode:

• Ski, work, or drink: pick two. Ben’s seasons driving guests for a luxury chalet company

• The sober season that became an Instagram page, then a business

• The first booking came from New Jersey, and Ben thought it was a scam

• Never skied? Ben’s guest who went from zero to flying around the mountain in about six hours of lessons

• Private chefs, cold plunges, daily yoga, and evening workshops

• The January 22 to 29, 2027 week in Méribel, and who it’s for (sober, sober curious, or just done with hangovers on holiday)

• Ben’s pick for your queue: “The Gentlemen” on Netflix

• Why Ben didn’t build a support group on a mountain. He built a room.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open

01:29 You got sober. Now what?

04:06 Falling for the mountains at 21

05:13 Ski, work, or drink: pick two

06:36 The sober season experiment

08:43 Tamar’s 20-year-old snowboarder brain

09:36 Rosé at lunch, shots on the chairlift13:41 A word from our sponsor: Aura House

14:30 January 2027 in Méribel

15:34 North Americans welcome

18:06 Never skied? Start here

24:39 Watching strangers become friends

28:53 Pop culture pick: The Gentlemen

31:36 The Sober Swap, new in Backstage

35:13 Yoga, cold plunges, evening workshops

37:48 He didn’t build a support group. He built a room.

38:37 Where to find Soberski

Sober Shots:

“If I can not drink in a ski resort, then I can probably not drink anywhere.” (Ben Coombes)

“You are allowed to go somewhere ridiculous and beautiful to find him or her.” (Alysse Bryson)

Mentioned in this episode:

- Soberski | Instagram @s0berski

- Backstage with The Sober Curator: https://thesobercurator.com/backstage-with-the-sober-curator/

- The Sober Swap, our new October Backstage hang

- Krysty Krywko, “Skiing Sober: Rewriting Après-Ski Without Alcohol”

Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.

SEASON 2 MERCH: https://shopthesobercurator.com/

This episode is brought to you by Aura House. Save 10% with code TSC10: https://go.shopmy.us/p-64140200

SC RESOURCES: - Meet the Contributors - Alcohol + Substance Use Disorder Guide - Recovery Nonprofit Resource Guide - LGBTQ+ Recovery Resource Guide

CONNECT: www.thesobercurator.com | The Sober Sip newsletter: https://www.thesobercuratornewsletter.com/ | @thesobercurator on Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube + Pinterest

Love the show? Rate, review + follow. It takes 60 seconds and helps more people find us. Feedback + guest ideas: thesobercurator@gmail.com

Hosted by Alysse Bryson with co-host + producer Tamar Routly. For informational and entertainment purposes only; not a substitute for professional advice.

Music: TSC S2 theme “Sober Shots” created by Alysse Bryson using Suno AI, under Suno’s commercial license.

A Toronto mixologist spends years building other people’s nights out. COVID moves her cocktail classes onto Zoom, the kits sell, and she has never been less happy. So she books a one-way ticket to Mexico.

Amanda Chen went from Tulum to a 10-day silent meditation retreat on the Oaxacan coast, walked out with no desire to drink, white-knuckled it for two years, and then found her people on a stranger’s patio at her first meeting. Then she did the thing nobody does: she stayed in the world of drinks and built TOMONOTOMO, a non-alcoholic agave spirit distilled by hand on a copper still in Oaxaca City, with real Tobalá agave and no shortcuts. Alysse met her at the Sans Bar Academy Awards in Austin, where they both took home trophies.

In this episode:

• The one-way ticket, Tulum’s hedonism, and why she left at the top of her game

• Ten days of silence in Mazunte and the backpack she wasn’t ready to drop off the cliff

• Two years of avoiding every room with mezcal in it, which in Oaxaca is every room

• The first meeting: an emailed address, a doorbell, and a woman who described herself as “batshit sober”

• Why “do you want a drink?” used to feel like an attack, and the fiancée who called it

• Copper stills, palenques, and the day mezcaleros started asking to live like her

• What “tomo” and “no tomo” mean, and the Pride label with about 10 bottles left

• Carrie Bradshaw, cosmos, and why “Sex and the City” did not age well

• Watching “Ted Lasso” from midnight to 5 a.m. while the still does its work

Sober Shots:

“That’s not a pivot, friends. That is a plot twist, and I love a plot twist.” (Alysse Bryson)

“I’m ready to drop the ball, I’m not ready to drop the bag.” (Amanda Chen)

Mentioned in this episode:

• TOMONOTOMO or #ADDTOCART ON AMAZON

• Kim Parsley’s TOMONOTOMO Tobalá review on The Sober Curator

• Backstage with The Sober Curator

Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.

SEASON 2 MERCH: https://shopthesobercurator.com/

This episode is brought to you by Aura House. Save 10% with code TSC10: https://go.shopmy.us/p-64140200

SC RESOURCES:

• Meet the Contributors

• Alcohol + Substance Use Disorder Guide

• Recovery Nonprofit Resource Guide

• LGBTQ+ Recovery Resource Guide

CONNECT: www.thesobercurator.com | The Sober Sip newsletter | @thesobercurator on Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube + Pinterest

Love the show? Rate, review + follow. It takes 60 seconds and helps more people find us. Feedback + guest ideas: thesobercurator@gmail.com

Hosted by Alysse Bryson with co-host + producer Tamar Routly. For informational and entertainment purposes only; not a substitute for professional advice.

Music: TSC S2 theme “Sober Shots” created by Alysse Bryson using Suno AI, under Suno’s commercial license.

Three shows, three different flavors of "a sober person definitely wrote this" or "definitely did not." A basketball dynasty imploding over fake sobriety. Two women in very good coats who may or may not have killed their best friend. A suburban thief with a cocaine problem next door.

Alysse's TV ride or dies are here: Lane Kennedy, Patti Clark (making us global from Portugal), and co-host Tamar Routly. Spoilers for everything, on purpose. Each show gets scored on The Sobees, fulls and halves only, and one panelist tries to file a 4.75 and is denied.

In this episode:

• "Running Point" season two: Cam says "I'm sober now," nobody believes him, and the urine swap ("Anyone ever bought fake urine? Just me?")

• Why you can't buy sobriety, no matter how expensive the rehab

• Chet Hanks, sober on screen and IRL, and the love-addicted couple that deserves a spin-off

• "Your Friends & Neighbors" season two: Owen Ashe, the loud music, and the scene of all scenes (no spoilers here, plenty on mic)

• Perimenopause rage, the neighbor's dog, and Ali as the family's designated screw-up

• "Imperfect Women": the top-shelf alcoholic, the codependent nobody could stand, and why a three is a feeling

• Alysse vs. Elisabeth Moss, and the Rotten Tomatoes score that backs Lane up

• The strike, the attorneys, and "I'm gonna get Claude to reach out to you"

Sober Shots:

"You can't buy sobriety. Doesn't matter how much money you have. You could maybe buy a pee test, but you can't buy sobriety." (Alysse Bryson)

"A low score doesn't necessarily mean don't watch it. It's just our feelings about it, and a three feeling is a feeling." (Alysse Bryson)

The Sobees, panel average: "Running Point" S2: 3.5. "Your Friends & Neighbors" S2: 4.5. "Imperfect Women": 3.5.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Backstage with The Sober Curator (media nights, the Mixtape): https://shopthesobercurator.com/products/the-sober-curator-mixtape-monthly-zine-subscription

• Running Point season 2 review: https://thesobercurator.com/running-point-season-2-review-netflix/

• Imperfect Women review: https://thesobercurator.com/imperfect-women-review/

• Patti Clark, Recovery Road Trip: https://thesobercurator.com/recovery-road-trip-quitlit-book-review/

Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.

SEASON 2 MERCH: https://shopthesobercurator.com/

This episode is brought to you by Aura House. Save 10% with code TSC10: https://go.shopmy.us/p-64140200

SC RESOURCES:

• Meet the Contributors: https://thesobercurator.com/contributor-directory

• Alcohol + Substance Use Disorder Guide: https://thesobercurator.com/resources/

• Recovery Nonprofit Resource Guide: https://thesobercurator.com/nonprofit-recovery-resources/

• LGBTQ+ Recovery Resource Guide: https://thesobercurator.com/lgbtq-recovery-resources

CONNECT: https://thesobercurator.com | The Sober Sip newsletter: https://www.thesobercuratornewsletter.com/ | @thesobercurator on Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube + Pinterest

Love the show? Rate, review + follow. It takes 60 seconds and helps more people find us. Feedback + guest ideas: thesobercurator@gmail.com

Hosted by Alysse Bryson with co-host + producer Tamar Routly. For informational and entertainment purposes only; not a substitute for professional advice.

Music: TSC S2 theme "Sober Shots" created by Alysse Bryson using Suno AI, under Suno's commercial license.

You hit publish, and right in the pit of your stomach it lands: someone you have never told is about to hear it anyway. In this house, that feeling has a name. We call it Wednesday.

This week Alysse and Tamar take on the hazards of podcasting sober. Sober podcasters do not get the blackout excuse, and "radical honesty" was never supposed to mean unfiltered. Alysse tells the story of the episode her mom should have heard from her first, Tamar tells the story of what her parents said the morning after they read her book, and both of them admit the stories that land at a sober meeting do not always land on a first date. Then it gets practical: how to pitch a podcast without embarrassing yourself, the mic that survived Goldilocks and the three mics, why real beats AI in 2026, and the single best hazard-reducer any host can have. A co-host.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• "We call it Wednesday": the cold-open feeling every sober podcaster knows

• The story Alysse's mom heard on a podcast instead of from her daughter

• Tamar's parents read her book. Both called the next morning.

• Know your audience: the dating stories that killed every second date

• How to pitch a podcast (and the seven "top 50" sober podcasts that are quietly dead)

• Tech talk: mics, video, Riverside, Descript, and the AI image a celebrity asked Alysse to take down

• Get a co-host, wear a costume, keep it fun

• Backstage with The Sober Curator, plus The Sober Curator Mixtape: seven mini zines in a cassette case, mailed monthly

SOBER SHOTS:

"Because we're sober, we can't blame being blacked out on saying something stupid. We just have to own that we said something stupid." (Alysse)

"You're allowed to say the true thing before you've rehearsed it into something safe." (Alysse)

MENTIONED:

• Backstage with The Sober Curator

• The Sober Curator Mixtape (free for Backstage members, just cover shipping):

• Podcast Impact Studio, Level Up Labs + the Off Script course

• Tamar's book: Beyond Recovery - Discover your purpose, embrace your authentic self, and live up to your true potential

Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.

SEASON 2 MERCH: https://shopthesobercurator.com/

This episode is brought to you by Aura House. Save 10% with code TSC10: https://go.shopmy.us/p-64140200

SC RESOURCES:

• Meet the Contributors

• Alcohol + Substance Use Disorder Guide

• Recovery Nonprofit Resource Guide

• LGBTQ+ Recovery Resource Guide

CONNECT: thesobercurator.com | The Sober Sip newsletter | @thesobercurator on Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube + Pinterest

Love the show? Rate, review + follow. It takes 60 seconds and helps more people find us. Feedback + guest ideas: thesobercurator@gmail.com

Hosted by Alysse Bryson with co-host + producer Tamar Routly. For informational and entertainment purposes only; not a substitute for professional advice.

Music: TSC S2 theme "Sober Shots" created by Alysse Bryson using Suno AI, under Suno's commercial license.

You spend at least 40 hours a week at work. For a lot of people in recovery, that's 40 hours of navigating a culture that doesn't know you exist, or worse, doesn't care.

Eliza Zarka is changing that. She runs the National Recovery Friendly Workplace Institute, which certifies employers as recovery friendly, and she took an idea that started at a New Hampshire ski resort and turned it into a national movement with bipartisan federal backing. Alysse and Sober Curator contributor Sarah, a fractional HR consultant in long-term recovery, get into what it actually takes to make a job safe to be sober in.

In this episode:

• Why "there are already people in recovery that are working for you" is the sentence that changes an employer's mind

• The four pillars of Recovery Friendly Workplace certification: culture, hiring, benefits, and education

• How to bring this to your HR department without disclosing your own recovery

• Alysse on 2006 versus 2026: why she hid it for years, and the 2016 job interview where she said it out loud on purpose

• The company that made the first hour of its holiday party completely alcohol-free, with leadership required to be there

• Why the holiday gift bottle of wine tells you the company knows nothing about you

• Coffee tastings, tea tastings, dirty soda tastings: team building that isn't a wine flight

• Pop culture close: "The Office," "Parks and Rec," and the true crime documentary habit that may be a problem

Sober Shots:

"There are already people in recovery that are working for you." (Eliza Zarka)

"When you're in an interview, you're interviewing the company just as much as they're interviewing you." (Alysse Bryson)

Mentioned in this episode:

• National Recovery Friendly Workplace Institute: https://rfwinstitute.org

• Backstage with The Sober Curator: https://thesobercurator.com/backstage-with-the-sober-curator/

• The Sober Curator Business Rolodex, free listings for sober business owners: https://thesobercurator.com/the-sober-curator-rolodex/

Nothing in this episode is legal or HR advice. Talk to an employment attorney about your specific situation.

Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.

SEASON 2 MERCH: https://shopthesobercurator.com/

This episode is brought to you by Aura House. Save 10% with code TSC10: https://go.shopmy.us/p-64140200

SC RESOURCES:

- Meet the Contributors

- Alcohol + Substance Use Disorder Guide

- Recovery Nonprofit Resource Guide

- LGBTQ+ Recovery Resource Guide

CONNECT: www.thesobercurator.com | The Sober Sip newsletter: https://www.thesobercuratornewsletter.com/ | @thesobercurator on Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube + Pinterest

Love the show? Rate, review + follow. It takes 60 seconds and helps more people find us. Feedback + guest ideas: thesobercurator@gmail.com

Hosted by Alysse Bryson with co-host + producer Tamar Routly. For informational and entertainment purposes only; not a substitute for professional advice.

Music: TSC S2 theme "Sober Shots" created by Alysse Bryson using Suno AI, under Suno’s commercial license.

A note before you listen: we recorded this episode in late July, several weeks before Hayden Panettiere died on August 16 at the age of 36. We are publishing it as recorded rather than editing her out. Her cause of death has not been released and we are not speculating. We recorded a separate conversation about her death, and it is the episode right before this one. If this is landing hard for you: 988 is the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text. SAMHSA's National Helpline is 1-800-662-4357, free and confidential, 24/7.

Three memoirs. Three completely different humans. One question: what does it cost to numb yourself when the whole world is watching?

Alysse and Tamar pull three of The Sober Curator's most avid readers into a panel on the year's biggest quit lit: “Famesick” by Lena Dunham, “We Did OK, Kid” by Anthony Hopkins, and “This Is Me: A Reckoning” by Hayden Panettiere. Nobody read all three. Everybody has opinions. Sobee scores at the end, and house rules say you cannot score a book you didn't read.

In this episode:

- Amy Liz Harrison's book hack from her 10th grade English teacher days: first paragraph, last paragraph, skim the middle, finish in an hour

- Why The Sober Curator was almost called The Sober Critic, and the epiphany that killed the name

- “Famesick”: medical trauma, opioids, and a memoir that flatly refuses to be a before-and-after

- “We Did OK, Kid”: the blackout drive Anthony Hopkins had to be told about afterward

- Patti Clark and Alysse on what actually stops you, and it isn't what you'd do to yourself

- “This Is Me: A Reckoning” Hayden Panettiere on acting at 11 months old, a mother who was also the manager, and postpartum depression nobody names out loud

- The Sobee score lightning round, plus a quarter-point scoring controversy

Sober Shots:

"Quit lit used to mean one shelf on a bookstore nobody browsed on purpose." (Alysse)

"There are books that I just wanna eat like a really juicy nectarine and just bite into it and just get sticky." (Patti)

Mentioned in this episode:

- Mixtape with The Sober Curator zine: https://shopthesobercurator.com/collections/the-mixtape

- Cover Story Retreat, November 1-4, Scottsdale: https://evolveretreats.co/cover-story-hermosa-inn/

- Anne Marie Cribbin's Famesick review: https://thesobercurator.com/famesick-lena-dunham-review-addiction-recovery/

- Toni Will, Rebellious Success: https://amzn.to/4x65SeD

Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.

SEASON 2 MERCH: https://shopthesobercurator.com/

This episode is brought to you by Aura House. Save 10% with code TSC10: https://go.shopmy.us/p-64140200

SC RESOURCES:

- Meet the Contributors

- Alcohol + Substance Use Disorder Guide

- Recovery Nonprofit Resource Guide

- LGBTQ+ Recovery Resource Guide

CONNECT: www.thesobercurator.com | The Sober Sip newsletter: https://www.thesobercuratornewsletter.com/ | @thesobercurator on Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube + Pinterest

Love the show? Rate, review + follow. It takes 60 seconds and helps more people find us. Feedback + guest ideas: thesobercurator@gmail.com

Hosted by Alysse Bryson with co-host + producer Tamar Routly. For informational and entertainment purposes only; not a substitute for professional advice.

Music: TSC S2 theme "Sober Shots" created by Alysse Bryson using Suno AI, under Suno’s commercial license.