Sober Not Somber Hour

Hello everyone and welcome to Sober Not Somber Hour. I'm your host Jen Varale and during this time I love to come on live and just talk about sobriety. my 14 plus year journey. I have 12 years of continuous sobriety and my dog's often here with me and needs attention. So his name is Copper and you'll see me having to give him a little bit of love as I'm sharing. One of the things that I like to do is share what I'm drinking in the non-alcoholic world because this to me is a tool to be able to survive the alcohol centric events and social experiences that we all have.

So today I'm highlighting Little Saints and this is Saint Oak. It's A non-alcoholic spirit. They're based, they're East Coast based. Megan, the founder, has an incredible story. She's more of a mindful drinker, so doesn't come to creating this product solely for sobriety, but she wanted choices. And I appreciate this so much. This is one that would like replace like a darker like a bourbon kind of whiskey beverage, but to me it doesn't even taste like that. Like I'm not looking for that. So this is its own thing.

It says it's a curious blend of vanilla, caramel and reishi and it has lion's mane. So I usually just do like an ounce and a half of that and then add a little sparkling water. So this is what I'm going to be drinking today as I'm sharing some thoughts on alcohol centric events and environments that I've been in lately, because, as I said, I feel like arming yourself with great ways to maintain your sobriety when you're going into corporate events, conferences, any social gathering that you know is going to have alcohol.

So cheers to this conversation. I can really taste the caramel always in this one. I love it. So last, was it just last week? No, the week before. I was in Las Vegas for four days for a massive conference that was all about event planners and travel globally. And there were 18,000 people at this trade show and education conference. It was insane. I hadn't been to Vegas, I bet for probably six years or so. And even then it was just sort of a one night and fly out. But the last time when I was really in Vegas for a conference, I was still in active addiction.

That was 13 some years ago. And so walking through these spaces in Vegas, having these memories sort of flood back to where I was at at that point in my life was such a trip. And it's not an environment that I love because there's just a lot of lights, the stale smell of smoke lingering, even though some of the casinos have limited smoking. And then also the alcohol that's taken, served everywhere, people openly carrying them around. They call them travelers there, by the way. I'm Minnesota based, but I do know the Wisconsin roadie, if you've ever heard of that.

So people would get drinks at bars and then take them to walk around to different casinos. So everybody's like carrying drinks in hand. And then also, you know, gambling is another addiction. So we know Vegas is a little bit of a sin city, I guess. So being there for this conference was really interesting. I was so thankful to be there with a sober friend of mine who I do work with in the space. Juanita Unger is her name and she's the NA sommelier based out of Seattle. Check her out. She has amazing cocktails and recipes on her website.

I have always been and will continue to be focused on the cultural conversation around not drinking. So it was crazy to be in this environment where there's still a lot of drinking. Even at the trade show, there were people serving alcohol in the morning, you know, champagne and mimosas, and then sort of plying people to come into their vendor booth and chat with them, you know, with a drink. So there was a little bit of that. What I loved seeing, though, was there was more NA options this year.

It was my first time going, but in conversation with others, It definitely was cool to see more NA options. So non-alcoholic champagne at some of the celebrations. And also there was like a water bar and people were like Caesar's Palace just did a water bar. I thought how cool. So the tides are shifting. And I think especially if you are in corporate or in a social environment that you need to be in for work, it's important to make sure that those options are there. So the people that were running the conference at Mandalay Bay really tried to implement more NA options.

And they also had me and Juanita as speakers to event planners. on the non-ELK space and the culture piece. And it was like, we're moving forward with readiness to implement more NA. So I felt like there was some traction there. But I would say just questioning for you and where you might be at in your mindful drinking or sober journey, are you figuring out how to navigate those social spaces and do you need help with how you might approach those? So, for example, going into Vegas, I had a huge help with, you know, my roommate being a sober gal.

So that was easy. And we sort of navigated all the spaces together and supported each other and finding all those choices and sort of making light of it, making a game of where's the best NA. But that made a huge difference. Having been there alone, I think it would have felt a little isolating because all the parties that you had to sort of opt into after the trade show hours ended were, again, at places where one event that I attended, the host really pushed for a non-alcoholic option that was other than Heineken Zero, and she was anticipating it was going to be on the menu.

And for some reason, the bar manager took it off. And it was a crazy experience to still find that even with event planners hosting their own events, they can't get these non-alcoholic options in there. So just thinking about like the navigation of that, making sure if you're going into some spaces or environments, especially coming up on the holidays that might be triggering that you have talked through, if you have a sponsor, talk through that with them or bringing a person alongside you that is either also sober or is going to have your back when the alcoholic offering is in front of you and you need to make a sort of a split decision that doesn't make you feel like you don't belong or makes you feel uncomfortable.

So practicing those scenarios and having some language for yourself that you feel comfortable saying if an alcoholic beverage is offered to you. It's one of the hugest tools. And then of course, just knowing If you can, doing your research ahead of time on any bar and restaurant you're going to to make sure they have something that you would like to drink instead of alcohol. Widely, I find still the only options are non-alcoholic beer. And the reasons for that are the distributors, obviously. It's easy for them being you working with their alcoholic distributor to just throw in a Heineken Xero because that's a parent company owned by an alcohol brand.

So just to be on the lookout for that. And one of the biggest things you as a consumer or an event attendee can do is express that you are interested in having a non-alcoholic cocktail or some option that is not soda, tea or water or coffee. that feels like you can have that in hand and feel part of the celebration. So just tips that I'm thinking about. And as I mentioned again, going into the holiday season where we really need to sort of armor up and make sure we kind of have that conversation in our head and the the end game of just making it through that event without drinking, if that's your intention.

So That's really kind of what's on my mind from this whole Vegas four-day experience. And again, just being incredibly grateful for sobriety, witnessing others who at this conference had too much to drink still makes me really sad for that experience happening still. So yeah. Let me know, even if you listen to this after, if you need any support in going to events, like what situations have you been in? Do you feel like you'll be faced with that you could maybe, you know, bring your own non-alcoholic option that you love?

I bring any wine to galas. I do the whole thing and Yeah, it's still a thing in corporate America and events. So I encourage you to be thinking about that and staying on your sober or mindful drinking journey wherever you're at. As always, reach out to me. I'm actually heading to an event tonight and I'm excited because the founders really believe in the non-ALK movement. So I anticipate lots of good NIBEVs and choices and I wish that for you as well. Thanks all. See you next week on Sober Not Somber Hour.