Copenhagen-based Mikkeller Brewing has shuttered its 6-year-old San Diego brewery, citing pandemic difficulties and rising costs.
A former math and physics teacher, Denmark’s Mikkel Borg Bjergsø launched Mikkeller Brewing in 2006 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He enjoyed a cult following for his vagabond brews for nearly a decade before teaming up with San Diego's Alesmith and taking over their old brewery in 2015 when Alesmith moved to a 105,500-square-foot facility two blocks west in Miramar. In 2017, Mikkeller also announced its second U.S. brewery, which was located at Citi Field Stadium in New York City before it unceremoniously shuttered in fall 2020. Mikkeller also has satellite locations/bars all over the globe, including in Barcelona Spain, Bucharest Romania, Reykjavik Iceland, Torshavn Faroe Islands, Seoul South Korea, Taipei Taiwan, Berlin Germany, Stockholm Sweden, Los Angeles USA, Oakland USA, Singapore, Bangkok Thailand, San Francisco USA, Tokyo Japan, and all around Copenhagen Denmark.
Citing "two years of COVID and the difficult current rising cost environment," Mikkeller today announced the closure of its last U.S. brewing operation in San Diego. The company will now brew its beers from Alesmith's brewing facility in Miramar. Mikkeller's 900 square-foot tasting room in San Diego's Little Italy will remain open for the time being, as well as the taproom in San Francisco.
"This has been a very hard decision for us to make and comes with a lot of heartache for the Mikkeller employees affected by the closing," explained Mikkeller Brewing founder Mikkel Bjergsø. "The hardships facing the craft beer industry and the economy at large are known to anyone; supply chain issues, rising costs, and unstable market conditions post-pandemic just to name a few. Unfortunately, this means that it is just not sustainable anymore to keep operating our San Diego brewery."
Mikkeller will immediately seek interested buyers for its current US locations, which include the turnkey, 30,000 hectoliter brewery at 9366 Cabot Drive in San Diego's Miramar area. For more information, visit mikkeller.com.
