He didn’t expect the Giants to win. Nobody did. It was Super Bowl Sunday, the Patriots were undefeated, and Justin Gurland was sitting in rehab on the opposite side of the country from everyone he loved. But the Giants pulled off a ridiculous, against-all-odds victory — and for a 25-year-old heroin addict who’d just landed in detox on his golden birthday, that tiny sports miracle became something bigger: proof that outcomes aren’t fixed, and maybe his life wasn’t either.
Justin explains to me on The Sober Curator Podcast that he didn’t know any sober people when he got clean. None. So his brain did what a lot of ours do: it told him sobriety would be boring, lonely, and gray. The irony? That was already his life. “I was an isolator,” he says. “I’d withdrawn from life. I was worried about what people would think… and I wasn’t even in touch with anyone.”
What changed was people. His younger sister had finally said, “I can’t do this anymore,” and forced a real conversation. His family rallied. The treatment center gave structure. Then the Giants gave him a little laugh in group when he said, “I don’t know what God is, but I know that happened and I can hold onto it.” Sometimes hope is tiny and weird and wrapped in football. But it’s still hope.
Fast-forward 17 years. Justin has built a career helping families in recovery. He’s seen the heartbreak and the beauty. He’s also seen the exhaustion. Social work is holy and it’s heavy. When he felt himself burning out, he didn’t walk away from recovery — he asked a different question:
What if I built a place for people who are doing well?
Not in crisis. Not in active withdrawal. Not in the wreckage stage. People who just… don’t drink. People who did Dry January and loved it. People who live in New York City and want to go out on a Friday and not stand in a bar clutching club soda like a prop. “That community is enormous,” he says. “And honestly, they need people more than we do — because we, in recovery, already have our crew.”
That’s the seed for The Maze.
It’s opening in Flatiron — 24th between 5th and 6th — on purpose. Central, easy for uptown/downtown/Jersey folks, and in a neighborhood that already feels cool. It’ll be closed Mondays, open Tues–Sun for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a main dining room, lounge with couches, TVs, and a pool table, plus a speakeasy-style room for private events and sober hangs up to around 35 people, and full buyouts on Mondays. In other words: it functions like the places New Yorkers already love… just alcohol-free.
And yes, it’s pretty. Justin cares about design. He told me he didn’t want it to feel sterile or like a museum — he wanted a place you actually want to sit in. Green shows up in the space because it’s his favorite color (also: kind of on-brand for growth, money, and Manhattan), and the whole room is meant to read “living room, but make it member-y.” If you’ve ever walked into a “recovery” space and immediately clocked the fluorescent lighting and gray carpet, you know why this matters. Aesthetics are part of dignity.
Membership will start capped around 200 so they can see real usage patterns and make sure people can actually get a Friday reservation. This is the part nobody says out loud about sober social spaces: if you make it too open, you ruin the experience; if you make it too closed, you kill the community. He’s threading the needle by staying member-first, but still telling sober travelers, “DM us, we’ll figure it out.”
Beneath the business model is a bigger shift: sobriety is cool now. Or at least, not weird. The online recovery/AF movement that really blew up around 2016–2020 — books, podcasts, meme accounts, zero-proof brands — made it normal to say, “I don’t drink” without also saying, “I had a DUI.” That wave is exactly why a space like The Maze can exist in 2025. As Justin puts it, “I don’t think a place like this could’ve existed even a few years ago.”
But he’s also clear: online can only take us so far. Meeting people in person “locks in that connection.” Energy in the same room hits differently. And maybe that’s the real through-line from Super Bowl Sunday in rehab to this posh, green Flatiron clubhouse: he’s still creating spaces where people can feel that same little flash of “maybe everything’s going to be okay.”
If you’re sober or sober-curious and NYC is on your map, add The Maze to your list — and then go listen to the full episode for the origin story, the rehab group laughter, and the part where he says: if you want him to train for a marathon with you… don’t call him. ???? But do make sure to follow along with them on IG @themazenyc and stay in the NYC sober know.
Listen to the full convo on The Sober Curator Podcast — because getting sober matters, staying sober matters more.
Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more. That’s the whole premise.
The Sober Curator Podcast brings sober lifestyle, pop culture and recovery to the mic with personality, perspective and a glitter bomb of honesty. Founder and host Alysse Bryson (sober since May 1, 2006, and self-described Kevin Bacon of Recovery) is joined by co-host and show producer Tamar Routly of Podcast Impact Studio, plus a rotating bench of global Sober Curator contributors who pull up a chair as co-hosts.
What we cover, episode to episode:
Happy Every Hour: zero-proof drinks, NA beer, spirits and cocktails, reviewed by people who actually drink them.
Health and Wellness: mental health, physical health and what recovery looks like on a Tuesday.
Lifestyle: dating, parenting, shopping, style and the everyday logistics of alcohol-free living.
Entertainment: quit lit, movies, TV, music, sports and celebrity sobriety, rated with our proprietary Sobees.
Spiritual Gangster: Jesus to astrology, stoicism to the Celtic calendar.
Travel: sober events, sober retreats, Sobriety in the City and global travel without a drink in hand.
We also review other sober podcasts on Recovery Podcastland, dig into sponsored product spotlights, and go deep with contributors on how they got sober and what keeps them there. New episodes drop as video on YouTube and audio everywhere you listen.
Want more? BACKSTAGE with The Sober Curator is our membership community with Media Nights, Studio Nights, Edutainment Nights and The Sober Curator Mixtape, a monthly mini-zine delivered in a cassette case. Details at https://thesobercurator.com/backstage-with-the-sober-curator/
Whether you’re sober curious or decades in, we’ve got you. We’re not here to help you get sober. We’re here to help you live sober and love it.
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Contact: thesobercurator@gmail.com
Every October, half the internet finds out what it’s like to be the one holding a club soda at a party. Some of us have been doing Sober October for years, and the drinks have gotten a lot better since the O’Doul’s days.
This week, Alysse and Tamar sit down with the two people who know exactly what to pour: Kim Parsley and Justin Lamb, who hold down The Sober Curator’s Happy Every Hour section. Kim covers NA spirits and cocktails. Justin is roughly 150 NA beer reviews in and still can’t find a non-alcoholic single malt scotch.
In this episode:
– Sober October, Dry January, and “the always forgotten Dry July”: eye roll, gateway drug, or marketing?
– Justin’s fall NA beer list from 2024 still pops off, and some of the breweries on it are gone
– Why celebrity NA beer brands might not want sober customers (and why there should be room at the table)
– The “drink as prescribed” rule for trying NA spirits for the first time
– Kim builds Justin an NA Negroni and Alysse a pink Barbie Cosmo on the spot
– The one drink each of us is pouring for the rest of fall, plus what we’re eating with it
CHAPTERS
00:00 Club soda at the party
02:01 The Sober Curator Mixtape
04:16 Sober October: eye roll or gateway drug?
09:44 From craft beer to NA beer
13:36 Kim’s piano bar and Tanqueray 0.0
17:55 The 2024 fall beer list, two years later
20:22 “The War on Alcohol” and the SNL sketch
23:37 “They don’t want recovered addicts”
25:23 TOMONOTOMO: drink as prescribed
29:30 What drink are you?
30:57 Which NA spirits can you sip neat?
33:41 “I drink Diet Coke”
37:48 One drink for the rest of fall
TSC Articles mentioned in this episode:
– Justin’s Top 10 Non-Alcoholic Beers for Fall
– Kim’s TOMONOTOMO Tobalá review
– SNL’s “Non-Non Alcoholic Beer” sketch, pro or con
– “It’s Always Sunny,” NA Beer and the Joke That Didn’t Land for Me
– The Sober Curator Mixtape (Sober Snail Mail)
– Backstage with The Sober Curator
Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.
SEASON 2 MERCH: https://shopthesobercurator.com/
SC RESOURCES:
– 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.
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SOBRIETY IN THE CITY – NEW YORK CITY: This is your insider pass to New York City’s thriving zero-proof and sober-curious scene—where alcohol-free living is as iconic as the skyline. From trendy NA bottle shops to recovery game nights with the Yankees or Knicks, we spotlight the city’s best venues, events, and experiences that prove sobriety can be just as vibrant (and stylish) as any night out.
Whether you’re a lifelong New Yorker, a visitor, or somewhere in between, you’re welcome to raise your glass—minus the booze—and join a community that’s shaking up social norms while making wellness the latest trend.
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