Located in Long Beach, CA, Worlds Apart Artisanal Blends is a craft brewery in the making that specializes in handcrafted unique beers with a background in mixology aiming to put a twist on the classics and explore the world of wild mix-fermented beers.
On June 4, Sheryl and I drove to Fullerton to attend a Tasting Event at Epigraph Brewing. For a small $20 donation we enjoyed unlimited craft beer, food, and live music. Oh, and a book drive! Check out their logo… I mean, Google the definition of epigraph. I love it!!!
While in town, we enjoyed 3 different beers (Pils Bo Baggins, Let Me Count the Haze and Pride, Prejudice and Tons of Flavor) from Epigraph and lunch compliments of Tavos Tortas. About halfway in, another cooler full of beer showed up.
Behind the cooler was John Aproda, the Head Brewer/Blender from Worlds Apart Artisanal Blends. He was pouring several different bottles and cans from their portfolio. We struck up a conversation, became quick friends, and shared a few beers together. I asked for his business card in hopes of learning more about him and their story. Well, the time has come. Pour yourself a beer and settle in… It is my pleasure to introduce you to John Aproda. Cheers!
I met you a few weeks ago at a beer festival. Was that a successful event for you? Pretty cool to try 3 beers from Epigraph Brewing. You were a bonus!
Thank you for the kind words. Yeah, we’re happy to be invited last minute by Epigraph. We’ve had events like that one before and our biggest bonus is introducing our beers to new crowds and receiving feedback.
By the way, I really enjoyed everything I tried that day… Epigraph beers and yours. Do you remember everything you poured that day? Curious what the fan favorite was!
Well, fortunately I brought a vast variety of what we had in stock, but if I was to pick one that got the best feedback was Dino-DNA our mix-fermented gose brewed with blackberries, blueberries and pink Himalayan salt. I believe I brought five or six bottles and came home with none! It’s a hit and miss with sour beers at events, but lately I think it’s in the rise.
Can you give me an overview of Worlds Apart Artisanal Blends? Where are you based and what sort of beers are you brewing?
So, basically, it’s myself (John) and my co-founder Kristian. We created Worlds Apart as an expression of what we enjoy, craft beers and cocktails. We currently are based out on Long Beach. We create beers that we enjoy and don’t stick to the guidelines of styles, but like to still take the basics and change it to something that’s “apart”, if you will, by adding special adjuncts, herbs, fruits and techniques. Really make it our own. We also have sour beers. The program is small, but we are slowly watching our house culture evolve in a sense.
We also make craft cocktails as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any with me that day at the event, but Kristian is the brains behind that. He’s really pushed the bar scene to another level if you ask me. The drinks he creates for us mimics the techniques I like to use in brewing.
I am curious what you like to drink. What are some of your favorite breweries?
You cannot go wrong with a good hazy IPA or a German pilsner. But golden sours or mix-fermented beers are a favorite.
Hard to choose a favorite but I can say I do draw inspiration from Long Beach Beer Lab, Ambitious Ales, Smog City Brewing Co., The Bruery, Jester King Brewery, Side Project Brewery, Sapwood Cellars Brewery, The Rare Barrel, Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales, Trillium Brewing, New Belgium Brewing, Alvarado Street Brewery, and Yeast Of Eden. I think I could go on forever.
How long does it take for you to brew a new release? And what sort of research goes into that before you start brewing?
It could take anywhere from three weeks up to months, if not years, depending on what I plan to make. But typically, on average we stick to, 3 to 4 weeks for ales, 4 to 12 weeks for lagers and anywhere from 3 months to one year plus for farmhouse/mix-fermented sour beer. Not too much thought goes into making one of our beers. We try to take season into consideration, or if we think we’ve made too many light beers, it’s time to double dose and make a big thick porter or stout. For the sour beers, we have a base golden sour recipe and farmhouse saison recipe we pretty much use in all those beers, just changing percentages to adjust grist or new hop additions. The real thought is adding fruit just because it could be expensive or just sourcing what we want to use.
Who designed your logo? I love it!
Thanks. I created the logo. This was made for a side project when I started homebrewing and when Kris and I decided on forming Worlds Apart, we threw ideas around, but I kept leaning on this logo as our design. If you dissect the logo it sort of makes sense. Here’s a breakdown of the logo.
Upside down tree or roots, symbolizing our rooted past. Kris and I have known each other since we were 13, those younger years we were metalheads and still listen to the music to this day.
Ocean or sea, we grew up in Long Beach by the coast it’s a place we both have shared appreciation for.
The moon, big science fiction freaks. Growing up I can remember watching Sci-Fi with my pops and enjoying the vast strangeness of space of everything.
Lastly the triangle with line in center, this is the symbol for transcend and that’s important to us. We always strive to go beyond boundaries; if you set limits then you’ll always be limited in what you can achieve.
What’s the best beer you’ve ever had? Any on the bucket list you haven’t had the chance to sample yet?
Pliny the Elder from Russian River Brewing. If I could think of a flagship beer that I can drink all the time it would be that. And I draw lots of inspiration from their beers.
There some many good breweries I follow on Instagram and see lots of great beers but in the east coast and some of these places don’t distribute to SoCal so hard to get your hands on.
I can order your beers online. Do I need to pick them up, or can you ship them to me here in Los Angeles?
We have a link in the bio in Instagram for our menu which we try to update at least once a week. We do picks and deliveries for a small fee. As far as shipping, we can do it but the price outweighs the cost; since we don’t have a flat shipping rate it goes by weight. But it’s an option if someone wants to.
You have some creative labels. Who is designing those for you?
So, about 90% of our artwork is created by our artist and close friend Sithnarth Gnao. You can follow is his work on Instagram. He does great work and growing up with him helps because we share sort of the same outlook on style when it comes down to creating an image. After we get the image done, we design the label using an assortment of applications. Then we print on our laser printer. We find this now to be the easiest and most affordable way to make our labels. It also helps express the beer through art.
Where do you come up with ideas for a new beer? Again, what sort of research goes into that before you brew your first batch?
In my opinion, no idea is original anymore. A lot of beers are basically iterations of something we’ve had or seen. The thing that makes each brewery or beer different is the ingredients used, like a malt or hop and yeast used. 80% of the beer is expressed by the type of yeas. You use the rest as accessory. Right now, we’re working on a Smoothie Sour Series called Summer Breeze, and I got some inspiration from Narrow Gauge Brewing Company, Oakshire Brewing and Hudson Valley Brewery. They have some awesome fruity smoothie type sour beers, so I decided to give those a go and safe to say it worked out well. I think the expression of tart and fruit is so tasty, and with the little heat that we’ve had, I think it helps.
How do you archive your recipes?
With my job, I must keep a log of everything I do step-by-step. So, I kind of transitioned that into brewing, and it works great. I use a program called BeerSmith Home Brewing Software. It helps keep my recipes saved and monitors the progress steps. If a batch didn’t go as good, I first figure out where I possibly went wrong, then make small changes and try again.
What advice do you have for someone wanting to start homebrewing?
If you’re thinking you’re brewing beer because it’s cheap it isn’t. Let’s just get that out the way. You can’t get discouraged if your first beers taste terrible, mine did. It’s a refined process, and if you’re a technical geek, you’ll really enjoy it. The rewards of just doing it is the best. It could be as easy or as hard as you make it.
There are a lot of great brewmasters out there. Who do you look up to?
Michael Tonsmeire and Scott Janish of Sapwood Cellars and writer of American Sour Beers and The New IPA: Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor, Jeffrey Stuffings of Jester King, Cory King of Side Project, Tim Clifford of Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, just a few to name that at the moment are inspiring my latest beers.
You can only drink one beer for the rest of your life… What beer are you choosing?
You’d probably be surprised but I’d pick Stella Artois. This pilsner is just an easy-going pilsner that I think I can enjoy on every occasion. And I just think it’s a great beer too.
Do you enter beers in homebrew competitions? I’ve brewed twice, but it’s just not for me… Not sure what that world is like.
We normally don’t just because a lot of our beers stray from normal Beer Judge Certification Program Beer (BJCP) Style Guidelines, but recently we’ve just entered this year’s National Homebrew Competition this June. Although no awards were earned, we did get great feedback from all the beers entered. The total amount of entries were just about 3,000 and three rounds, so it was a big one. The only beer that did good was our Mischievous Cat golden sour conditioned on blackberries and plums. Category 28B with 56 Entries, it went to the second round and nothing but positive reviews from all the judges. So that was awesome.
Do you prefer cans or bottles? It seems like every new beer coming out is in a can!
I like both, something about the conveniency of a can is awesome but the aesthetics and old-fashioned beauty of a bottle is underlining romantic. But if you go further into detail, it just takes less of a footprint to make and recycle cans than bottles, so they do make sense. And the best thing about cans is, I think they stay fresher longer because it’s completely sealed and away from light. Which UV rays tend to skunk the beer. Unless that’s what you’re going for which is why some Belgian beers were bottled in green bottles.
Beer pairs nicely with food. Do you consider that when writing a recipe? Or do you ever try to pair your beers with what’s for lunch or dinner?
We don’t really consider the pairing of food until afterwards when the flavors are present then do so but it’s never really a forethought. But when having a meal, of course. I’m not sure if correct sometimes but I try.
What else can you tell me about Worlds Apart Artisanal Blends?
We are a small establishment, but we do take people’s health into consideration. So, if someone has a food allergy of some type, please let us know. We do normally write on the can ingredients that we’ve added.
Where can folks at home learn more about Worlds Apart?
You can follow us on Instagram. Feel free to message us and either myself or Kris will get to you if you have questions.
I enjoyed meeting you and trying some of your beers… Dino-DNA was my favorite! I can’t wait until we do it again, man. And thank you for doing this. In all of the interviews I do, I always give the artist the last word. Go.
Totally honored to have done this interview and thanks for the opportunity. I enjoyed meeting you and your wife and happy you appreciated our drinkable art. It makes us feel like we hit an accomplishment when we get good responses. So, thank you. All I can say is thank you to all our followers and friend for the continued support through the ups and downs. You guys truly are the best. We have big plans coming in the new future hopefully involving and localize establishment somewhere. In the meantime, we’ll continue create what we want to create and if you share the same mindset were in for the long haul. Thank you.
For more information about Worlds Apart Artisanal Blends, go to:
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