Mikkel Borg Bjergsø Brings Mikkeller to San Diego

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to have been invited to a private event at Mikkeller Brewing, San Diego as they celebrated their grand opening and "take over" of the former AleSmith facility on Cabot Dr. in Miramar. Already known for our burgeoning craft beer industry and the pandemic we've unleashed known as the "hop forward" West Coast IPA, the addition of a new brewery to the 116 or so already dottering the landscape here in America's Finest City might not seem like such a big deal. That would be incorrect...

Until now, Mikkel Borg Bjersø's claim to fame has been as a "gypsy" brewer, collaborating and contracting with small breweries all over the world to function as a network of laboratories where he's developed some 800+ recipes for craft beers over the last decade. Beer Geek Breakfast stouts, barrel-aged lambics known as the Spontaneous series, a Single Hop series populated by varieties like Tomahawk, Centennial and Apollo just to name a few. In fact, in 2013 alone the Mikkeller brand is reported to have released 124 recipes worldwide. I'm no Guinness (pun intended) but I can't imagine that isn't some kind of record.

Starting to see where this is going?

While Bjersø has Mikkeller Bar locations around the globe, Mikkeller Brewing, San Diego marks the establishment of the first actual brew house to wear the Mikkeller brand, firmly planting some gypsy roots right here in our own little slice of heaven known as "Beeramar". In other words, yeah... It's a big deal.

An even bigger deal (to me anyway) is the fact that Mikkel was kind enough to spend about a half hour speaking with me on camera about all things craft beer and why San Diego beat out the rest of the planet in landing the first Mikkeller Brewing Company. The embedded clip above is a 2oz taster of that discussion...

Na zdrowie!