Mikkeller bars in San Francisco and Los Angeles closed
USA | Mikkeller is going through a rough patch. Known to partner with local restauranteurs on its bars, the Mikkeller location in Los Angeles was closed in February, followed by the Mikkeller bar in San Francisco in May.
Both were operated by Mikkeller’s partner Chuck Stilphen. A leaked email in February from Mr Stilphen said that Mikkeller Downtown LA, which was only opened in 2017, had never broken even, and that he had drained his own personal finances to keep the business going.
Alas, there seems to be some dispute over the meaning of “closed”. A spokesperson for Mikkeller told San Francisco media that the San Francisco bar, which was opened in 2013, “is not closed permanently ... it is closed now due to the situation in the world.” Mr Stilphen, for his part, let media know that Mikkeller HQ may choose to reopen Mikkeller SF if they want, but that he was getting out of the business.
Portland plans nixed
In Portland, Oregon, where Mikkeller was going to have its own brewery and bar, its local partner, the hospitality group Chefstable, has dropped the plan and since teamed up with another craft beer personality to open a new brewery and taproom, called Craft Beer Collective (CBC), in the former Burnside brewery and Mikkeller pop-up space. The Craft Beer Collective opened on 16 July.
After running a pop-up bar for six months in 2019, Mikkeller was to get a permanent home. But delays on building construction and cash flow issues may have now permanently killed the local Mikkeller partnership, the website newschoolbeer.com reports.
“Mikkeller (like all of us) is dealing with a lot of chaos back home and we are now looking at a very long timeline of knowing when it can come back to Portland,” Chefstable’s founder Kurt Huffman was quoted as saying.
Never tardy, Mikkeller has since partnered with the quick service restaurant chain Burger King in Sweden and Denmark to put a non-alcoholic beer on its menu. The beer, called The King’s Cup, was launched at the end of June.
