Mikkeller NYC is closing

It was a really cool spot and an amazing Mets pregame option. They did a great job of offering a ton of their own beers from all of their breweries and a really good selection from other breweries. While it was nowhere near the top of my favorites list for NYC breweries at this point (the haze craze fully took me), I'll always have a soft spot for Mikkeller because visiting them in Copenhagen rekindled my interest in beer several years ago. We also always made a point to try and visit them when we were in a city with one of their taprooms, having now done San Francisco (which appears to have also closed), Seoul, Tokyo, and London.

 

Not to kick a place when it's down. And the news sucks, as it does whenever we hear about any business closing its doors due to COVID. But does anyone know exactly what the original logic/rationale was for the location? Sounded like a great spot and I'm sad I never went, but - @algebeeric_topology @frozyn and I were just texting about this - it always seemed a little nonsensical to set up shop way out by Citi field, yet not even accessible by anyone in the stadium.

 

I'm going to presume they wanted all that space and (relatively) cheap rent. The Mets ownership probably gave them a good deal for the sq footage given their financial woes. I never got to go sadly, but that is my overall assumption. They weren't going to have that kind of brewing and taproom space anywhere closer to Manhattan for remotely as cheap. Again, I am assuming a lot here about how liquid Mikkeller was/wasn't when making this deal initially.

 

Right right - yeah the cost aspect makes sense and I guess was sort of a given. But there must be other relatively lower cost, larger space options that make more sense location-wise. So was just wondering if anyone knew any specifics - such as an extra special deal with the Mets per your assumption, or something else. Either way sad days (though not for his bro per his instagram)

 

Damn that sucks, great place to stop before a ballgame. It had a great tap list and the food was always on point.

I was there for their opening party and they were just pouring Cantillon for free. It was dope. I feel like the brewery space will just be re-occupied (OH could use another location or two) if things ever get back to normal.

 

Holy shit a numerically-illiterate phoenix rises from the ashes!

 

I definitely hope it doesn't go to waste, but as somebody else implied, the logistics are kind of weird to expect anywhere near a reasonable amount of foot traffic on non-game days.

But maybe another brewery can use the production space year round, and then have a taproom open during the baseball season.

 

What did Jeppe say? I don't follow him.

 

I’m sorry but have we met???

 

Kind of, but the other issue to me, and maybe I don't give mets fans enough credit, but how much Cantillon can you serve during baseball games?

That is, I don't see a time when that bar ever made sense. It was too niche for game day and too inconvenient on the other days.

 

The times I went before Mets games the bar was completely packed. On the other hand I went a couple times in the winter and there were probably 10 other people there (which was more than I expected actually). But as someone said, that might be fine if you view the primary use as a production facility and bar service as supplemental.

 

I mean it’s not much further than ridgewood and there’s a pitch and putt within walking distance + quite a bit of parking.

 

Post was a screenshot of their Instagram announcement

His caption - “how do you close something you never opened?? asking for a friend”

And then he responded to a lot of comments with further stuff. I haven’t paid attention to Mikkeler for years, so I don’t know if this was in relation to the whole operation, or just the NYC location, but as well as some barbs about poor choice of location there were multiple comments implying that his brother had no actual say or ownership stake in the place

 

Geographically it's not far from Ridgewood, but in terms of public transit, it might as well be a different planet.

 

Yeah it's quicker to drive from where I live now (northern Westchester) than it was to take public transport from my place in Brooklyn, despite it being almost 4 x the distance.

 

Probably alluding to Mikkeller's PE investment.

 

Pretty sure the Wilpons were the primary investors behind it. Place was always slammed on game day. Losing those 81 days this year where it was packed had to be a killer. Plus who knows when they will be able to get back to normal business with the way things are going.

 

If Mikkeller staying open was contingent on the Wilpons remaining the owners then good riddance. I'll take that deal 100/10.

 

I've never been to the space, and I've been to a live MLB game as many times as I've been to Antarctica, but there's part of your answer @RauchbierFan33 . Switch pre-game for post-game and then you've got double. Consider how many times you used to see this question in this forum: "What's the best spot within walking distance of Barclay's to get a beer?" But I get your confusion about it. Obviously that place had it's off-season, but they must have factored in everything before the pandemic was a factor. But for the other important part of the answer, look below.

Here's a bit from Jeppe from the past that explains his current comment:

"Mikkel and Mikkeller have 0% ownership in Mikkeller NYC, [Mikkeller NYC is] a part of a wealthy group of corporate people that owns the Mets among other things."

In 2016, Mikkeller had a minority investment by Orkila Capital, but for the complicated Citi Field venture that includes the Wilpons (that @Bieniek30 is referring to), check out this article.