Danish Brewery Mikkeller Readies NYC Debut
With four locations on the West Coast, including a successful 2016 US landing in San Diego where Mikkeller opened its first stateside brewery, it was only a matter of time before Mikkeller would expand eastward to the Big Apple.
Fast forward to 2017 and the renowned Denmark-based beer maker looks set to open their first East Coast brewery — Mikkeller Brewing NYC — at Citi Field in Flushing, Queens. The brewery, which will be the Danish company’s 32nd location worldwide — will feature a 10,000 square foot brewery and restaurant and include “a 20 barrel brewhouse, lots of single batch fermenters, and a canning line to provide fresh and varied offerings to customers on a weekly basis.”
#DenmarkInNY spoke with Jim Raras Jr., Executive Vice President of Mikkeller Brewing NYC, and Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, founder of Mikkeller, on their collaboration with David Lynch, their Danish inspirations and how they plan to win over the hearts, minds and beer-thirsty stomachs of New Yorkers.
DNY: How did the collaboration with David Lynch come about?
Mikkeller: Our NYC team loves Twin Peaks and happens to know some great people who work with David Lynch. Once we connected, the partnership took off organically. Lynch and his team sent us a mood board of various Mikkeller labels he liked as well as some of his drawings, and together with our art director Keith Shore, collaborated on packaging that evoked some of the show’s most iconic scenes.
What makes a Danish beer brand and the universe of Twin Peaks a good match?
There’s a strong creative spirit and sense of design inherent in both Mikkeller and David Lynch that worked well for the beer itself and for the packaging. With the news of this year’s Twin Peaks reboot and the Mikkeller NYC launch, we saw an opportunity to do something exciting for our respective fan bases; many were thrilled to track down these limited edition beers and collect them all — even saving the empty cans after drinking the beers.
What makes Mikkeller a uniquely Danish brand?
Even though we love Denmark and this is where our base is, our outlook has always been very international. We have bars and staff all over the world.
You are opening the first US East Coast brewery this fall at Citi Field, Flushing.
We’re slated to open in early 2018 and are thrilled.
With 31 locations worldwide are there any Danish traditions you hold on to and why is that important?
Our sense of design and quality stems from a long, strong tradition of Danish design and solid craftsmanship, and I would like to think that this shines through in everything that we do. Then again, our art director, who is responsible for our visual identity, is American, so who we are is very much a product of both our heritage and our presence around the world.
