The Journey Begins
This journey started on January 1st, and this website was meant to launch that same date but I was personally not happy with it. I even scrapped the original design because it wasn’t “perfect.” I wanted a designer logo that I created, I wanted the perfect page layout, the perfect coding for the website, etc. Then I remembered the advice I used to give my teams when I was a Manager and Director, “It will eventually become perfect, just have a great foundation and we can work on the rest to get it where it needs to be.” So here I am with a good foundation and this will continue to evolve to eventually become perfect.
What exactly am I doing here? Short and sweet, this is the beginning of my journey to sobriety. This blog is my way of keeping myself accountable and also being vulnerable by exposing a part of myself I would never usually expose otherwise. There are going to be many facets to this journey and this project of a blog and website, from the daily blog, to cocktail/mocktail recipes, to cooking recipes and videos, and much more. Its possibilities are endless.
But most importantly I want to build community. Sobriety is not an easy journey. I have seen several friends do it and I was always there to support them. I saw the good, the bad and the ugly. I have done sober periods of time, to reset my body, and I have had some very bad periods with alcohol. 2025 had several moments where I realized that alcohol and I are not friends anymore and it is time for us to part ways. So here we are saying our goodbyes to each other.
So why the name Somm To Sober? I am a Level 2 Sommelier (Level 1 through the Court of Masters, Level 2 via WSET), so I have been a career and life around alcohol. More off the colloquial term for a Sommelier is “Somm” (sometimes spelled Som). Does this mean I am giving up on my career as a Sommelier or with the liquor? No. I am just putting it all on pause at the moment while I get my life in order. That career deals a lot with tastings, drinking, and large social outings revolving around alcohol, and at this current crossroads that is not the demon I need to tango with. So I will venture down the road less traveled for the time being. Will I come back to being a Sommelier, most likely. It is a very fascinating field and ever evolving, and so much to learn. Hell, I may even bust out my old tasting journals and review my notes and see what I was thinking of the wine at the time.
Do I expect the journey to be easy, no. Do I anticipate slips, stumbles, and falls, yes. Do I want them, no, but hey they happen. But I promise to always be honest about those things.
I am sorry this was a long post but this is paving the road for the trip we are about to go on, so I wanted to do it right. Is it perfect, no, but it is a foundation for us to start the journey on and see where we go.
-A
