Sanford chef leaving Like Minds
Co-founder cites family reasons
Like Minds Brewing co-founder Justin Aprahamian said Tuesday that he is leaving the Milwaukee-Chicago brewery, which will continue under his former partner, John Lavelle.
Asked why he was leaving Like Minds, which opened a brewery in Chicago in 2015 and a second brewery in Milwaukee in 2016, Aprahamian said, “Timing.”
Aprahamian and his wife, Sarah, are expecting their second child in January, and he wanted to be able to spend time with his young family.
“It’s just been a lot, and it’s been a long road,” he said.
Lavelle said things will stay the same, with a couple of exceptions. Like Minds will discontinue brunch service on Sundays. The brewery, 823 E. Hamilton St., will remain open but will serve a limited menu. It also will serve a limited menu for Saturday lunch. The Saturday dinner menu will stay the same.
Saturday hours will be 11 a.m. to midnight, and Sunday the taproom will be open from noon to 6 p.m. Like Minds opens at 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
Lavelle said Aprahamian might be leaving the business, but “a lot of the collaboration was him explaining balance and flavor to me when we got into the wild and sour beers. Whether he’s there day-to-day or not, that’s always going to be the legacy of what we do.”
Aprahamian and Lavelle started brewing Like Minds beers at the Hinterland brewery in Green Bay in 2014. When they sought to open their own brewery in Wisconsin in 2015, they learned that state law forbid owners of restaurants, taverns or liquor stores from holding a brewery permit.
Aprahamian, a James Beard Award-winning chef, also is the chef-owner of the fine-dining restaurant Sanford, which he operates with his wife.
Lavelle said the brewery will soon release an experimental IPA single-hop series and continue brewing wild and sour beers similar to those already on the menu. Another partner, Zach Houlahan will take on a bigger role in the business.