When you declare your college major, there's no box you can check to become a professional cat cuddler, ice cream taste tester, or cat video maker. Heck, you probably never even believed those kinds of careers could exist but they do. In Elite Daily's new series, I Have The Job You Want, we're bringing you all the details on what it's like to work in some of the most ridiculous, unbelievable, and totally envy-inducing fields you never thought possible. These are #careergoals, for real.
"Dylan Sprouse" is a household name and when you hear it, you might think about Zack and Cody causing mischief around the Tipton Hotel. Its no surprise that Sprouse is widely known for his acting career, but you probably dont know about his current job. Believe it or not, the 25-year-old entrepreneur runs his own business, and hes entertaining fans in a totally different way. Sprouse is the CEO of All-Wise, a meadery located in Brooklyn, New York. There arent any lights, cameras, or scripts at his workplace, though; it's just him and his two-person team. In order to find out more about Sprouse's new job, I stopped by to chat over a glass of mead, an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey and water.
When I walked into All-Wise, Sprouse was sitting in a chair beside his brewing tanks, and I was surprised at how low-key he was. After shaking hands, he took me on a quick tour through the two-story meadery, and then poured me two glasses of the mead he created. One was his Show Mead, and the other was his Oolong Mead. Sprouse's Show Mead is a dry honey wine made with honey aged in oak, while the latter is a dry honey wine made with fermented oolong tea and unfiltered honey.
Right off the bat, it was obvious that Sprouse is passionate about his products at All-Wise. You know, mead, in particular, has a special place in my heart, he said.
Apparently, Sprouse has been in love with it since he began brewing mead when he was only 16 years old.
I, like most 16-year-olds, wanted to try drinking but couldnt buy it," he said. "My father has a very European mindset on alcohol. He bought me a brew set when I was 16, with the intent to say, Look, you can brew this, and taste a little bit, but the rest is mine. I enjoyed myself... enough to get to this point. So I kept that up.
Sprouse continued brewing mead throughout his college years, and even broke some rules in the process. He tells me he brewed inside his dorm room closet at New York University, which was obviously not allowed. He says, I did it in my dorm room, very sneakily. I had one roommate who knew I was doing it. I also was living with my RA, who did not know I was doing it. Sprouse continued, He was studying to be a doctor, so he was a very busy guy that didnt spend much time in the dorm.
Believe it or not, it was his dorm room brewing sessions that made Sprouse realize what he really loved to do. He tells me, The thing is, during college, I studied a lot of different things. I realized upon graduating that what I really liked to do was right in front of me the whole time. It was sitting inside my closet.
Fast forward three years and Sprouse is running his own meadery. Now thats what I call chasing a dream.
Brewing, for me, always is sitting alongside acting. And acting is subsequently sitting alongside brewing. I need both to be myself.
Sprouse is the CEO and mazer at All-Wise, which means he creates the mead flavors and heads the brewing process. He works alongside a team of two, which includes Doug Brochu, who heads Brewing Operations, and Matt Kwan, who deals with the companys finances. The team has been working together at All-Wise since the spring of 2018, and Sprouse has no plans of stopping.
My long term goals right now are to, you know, grow the business, obviously. First and foremost is to build out our bar downstairs, he says, referring to a taproom that will eventually be attached to the meadery to serve All-Wise mead to the public. Sprouse continues, But I think just to make more interesting batches. The longest term goal is to just make mead more of a household name.
Sprouse has his plate full, but he tries to find a balance between brewing and acting. For the past six months or so, hes been in China filming an upcoming movie called Turandot. Finding time to brew while he was abroad was somewhat of a challenge. "I was there doing that for six months, and theres a balance you need to strive for," he tells me. "Brewing, for me, always is sitting alongside acting. And acting, is subsequently sitting alongside brewing. I need both to be myself.
Finding balance isnt impossible, though. Sprouse finds ways to make the two careers intertwine, and tells me that he did something special for his coworkers on Turandot when they were done filming. I brewed a batch of mead as a wrap gift for the Turandot cast," he says. Im always thinking about [brewing mead]; Im always doing it.
Although brewing and acting are different jobs, Sprouse believes that both are considered entertaining. He tells me, As weird as it sounds, both are an art form, and both are an expression. I know I like to entertain. Brewing is entertaining.
He continues, Acting is entertaining. Brewing, for me, is the most direct form of an artist seeing his audience participate. Cause when I hand you that, and you drink what Ive made, Im seeing you have a physical reaction to what Im doing which is something that all artists yearn for: to see their work affect people."
"Its why I love to brew. So its never been too difficult to balance those two," Sprouse says. "Our business partners and I, we set up this company with the understanding that [the entertainer] was partly my role to keep. I am the artist in this group.
Its obvious that Sprouse is aware of his popularity in the entertainment industry, so I asked him if fans often stop by the meadery. Apparently, theyve come every day so far. He says, If theyre 21, I let them in for a tasting (after an ID check). But I just talk to them. I mean, the truth is that Im here a lot during the day, and theres plenty of time to talk to everybody. If they want to chat about this and other things, Im completely open to that.
Sprouses main hope is to educate fans about his mead, because no one knows about it, really. He says, My whole hope is that people want to chat with me and also learn more about this product, cause I love this product.
Fans arent the only people who stop by All-Wise, though. Sprouses brother, Cole, also makes an appearance when he can. Cole is often in Vancouver, Canada, filming Season 3 of Riverdale, and the twins don't see each other as much as they'd like. However, they call each other every day.
When Cole does visit All-Wise, he always tastes his brothers new batches of mead. Sprouse says, He likes our mead a lot, Ill tell you that. I think he has Stockholm syndrome when it comes to our mead, because hes tasted the worst of it.
Sprouse isn't exaggerating. He says, Like when I was making the dog sh*t version back when we were 16, he tasted it. So now, every time he comes in, hes like 'OMG, this is the best batch you've ever made!' Of course, its just getting better and better."
When it comes to serving his mead to others, Sprouse has an open mind. He says, Truth is, as the brewer, I dont give a f*ck. I want people to enjoy the product however they like it.
Sprouse hopes to distribute his mead to bars in the near future, because not too many establishments serve it yet. In fact, when hes at a bar that doesnt serve mead, Sprouse has a few different favorites. My go-to drinks besides that are usually pilsner beers, and light, crisp, refreshing drinks. Other than that, Im a bourbon guy. I like bourbon," he says.
However, when it comes to his favorite choice out of the meads at All-Wise, Sprouse doesnt discriminate. I like all of my mead. Im not playing favorites here.
If Sprouses endeavors have inspired you to start open your own brewery, he suggests starting with mead. He states, A lot of homebrewers are recommended to start with mead, because its pretty hard to f*ck up.
If you go down Sprouse's career path, youll also have to think of a name for your establishment. While explaining the meaning of the name All-Wise, Sprouse says its kind of stupidly pretentious.
First off, I think when we brew, theres never perfection. From my understanding, theres no tip of the pyramid, you never get to the top," he says. "Naming it All-Wise was an effort to become more wise about this process aware that were not.
He also explained a different meaning behind the name, describing it as instigatory. Sprouse says, If people who didnt understand that meaning would read this, theyd be like, Well thats kind of a bold claim. And in truth, it is. And thats an effort for people to be like, Thats a bold claim, I better taste it and find out! By that time, the deed is kind of done.
Sprouse continues: Then, my mission is complete, which is to get more people to try mead even if theyre not crazy about it. In other words, if the name All-Wise inspires people to try his product, Sprouse's job is done.
Just because Sprouse has his hands full at All-Wise doesnt mean he isn't moving forward with other goals. He tells me that offers are on the table," and "discussions are being had regarding his acting career. Sprouse also hopes to work on future projects that hes written himself, which is no surprise coming from such an accomplished entrepreneur.
Still, Sprouse plans on staying local for as long as he can so he can work on All-Wise. He says, I told my team that I just wanna focus on the meadery now that Im back. Six months is a long time away. I was away in China for quite a bit. So I told them for at least a month and a half, I wanna not work on anything but the meadery.
Keep an eye out for Sprouses next debut on the big screen, and make sure youre drinking a glass of All-Wise mead while youre watching.
