Mikkeller’s outpost in San Diego’s Little Italy – the Danish brewer’s last U.S. location – will close this weekend, the brewery announced on Instagram.
“We are sad to announce that this Saturday, April 8th will be Little Italy’s last day of service, and the end of an era for Mikkeller USA,” the company wrote. “Thank you all for the amazing memories and laughs over the last few years. We hope to see you one last time before Saturday for one more pint.”
The location’s closure comes eight months after Mikkeller announced it would shutter its production facility in San Diego’s Miramar neighborhood and pivot to contract brewing through an arrangement with AleSmith Brewing. The 30,000-hectoliter (about 25,000-barrel) brewery ceased operations in August and its adjoining taproom closed on October 1.
In the August announcement, Mikkeller said its retail locations in Little Italy and San Francisco would remain open. But the San Francisco bar closed in October 2022.
“Mikkeller Bar San Francisco was the second Mikkeller Bar we opened and the start of our entire operation in the states, so that place means something very special to us and it is of course very sad to have to say goodbye,” founder and creative director Mikkel Bjergsø said in an Instagram post announcing the closure. “But we will still be present in the U.S. and continuously strive to make great beer and great experiences.”
Mikkeller said it would “immediately seek interested buyers” for the Miramar facility and warehouse in the August press release, but New Mill Capital announced the brewery’s impending auction yesterday. Bidding is scheduled to begin April 27 for the facility’s 30-barrel brewhouse, fermentation and brite tanks that hold between seven and 90 barrels, canning line, wooden foeders, grain silos and other equipment. Lots begin closing May 1.
In 2021, the most recent year for which data is available from the Brewers Association (BA), Mikkeller’s Miramar brewery produced 10,575 barrels of beer. Mikkeller moved into the facility in 2016, which it acquired from AleSmith. It was the first physical brewery ever for Mikkeller, which had previously relied on contract brewing in Belgium and Norway.
Allegations of a toxic and unsafe work environment at Mikkeller San Diego began to surface in 2017, according to Good Beer Hunting – years before the craft beer industry’s 2021 reckoning with sexual harassment, discrimination and assault rose to national prominence. In that movement’s wake, Mikkeller was the subject of “Super Cool Toxic Workplace,” a podcast about working conditions at its locations in Europe and the U.S., produced by Kate Bailey of workplace consulting firm Hand & Heart.
Following the release of the podcast, Hand & Heart consulted Mikkeller on a reconciliation plan to rectify its work environment, which included employees electing peers to represent them in conversations with management about workplace safety and policies.
Mikkeller operates 40 retail locations in Europe and Asia. Its New York City outpost, a 20-barrel brewery and restaurant located within Citi Field, closed in October 2020.