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:
Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.
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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.
