Why our beer
tastes so good
As you have probably discovered, we brew beer: a lot of it, and in many different places. What started out as a home brewing hobby in a school teacher’s kitchen has grown to encompass a large-scale production process in collaboration with different breweries, all of whom possess specific abilities and talents. In the following section you will find information about our collaboration with these skilled and valued partners and about the breweries.
De Proef Brouwerij (Belgium)
De Proef Brouwerij is Mikkeller's closest partner, and the brewery and Mikkeller have grown alongside each other since their collaboration began back in 2007. The close partnership can account for a great deal of both Mikkeller's and De Proef's successes, not least of which includes the constant scientific development of new beers and recipes.
“Dirk [owner of De Proef] is insanely skilled and is one of the best brewers in the world with a huge technical knowledge of processes and raw materials. My creativity coupled with his technical skills and knowledge has meant that we complement each other really well”
Explains Mikkeller founder and CEO Mikkel Bjergsø.
Rewinding to Mikkeller's early years, Mikkel brewed his beer at GourmetBryggeriet in Denmark. But after his breakthrough in 2006 with the coffee stout Beer Geek Breakfast, his brewing career really began to take off. He needed to produce larger quantities of beer, so he started looking around for a brewery that could handle this task. Through his beer distributor, Beer Factory, he heard about a brewery in Belgium that specialized in licensing brewing for others. He contacted owner Dirk Naudts, who along with his wife, Saskia (both of them with a degree in biochemistry and focus on brewing) had started up their own brewery in 1996 with the sole purpose of producing the recipes of other “beer architects”.
The gypsy brewer and the perfectionist brewing engineer The first two beers that De Proef brewed for Mikkeller were Monk's Elixir, a Belgian ale, and the pilsner Draft Bear. When Mikkel was very happy with the results, production of Green Gold and Santa's Little Helper – Mikkeller's first Christmas beer – quickly followed. Mikkel wanted to continue with several new recipes, but initially he and Dirk did not fully agree on the production process. There was a little persuasion involved, says Mikkel.
“Dirk was used to brewing a few recipes, but in large quantities and then leaving it at that. He had a very traditional Belgian approach to beer and was not used to his clients being particularly creative. So, in the beginning, we had some discussions back and forth. But I persuaded him, and as we got started, he himself started to think it was really exciting. We started experimenting and developing beer together. It was the same when I got the idea to barrel age our beers.”
For Dirk Naudts, Mikkel showing up and shaking things up a bit was perfect timing for De Proef. The brewery had been around for over ten years and was prepared to take on the challenge.
“Mikkel was not like the other customers. They did not want to reveal that they brewed with us, but Mikkel stood by it one hundred percent. He said, 'I'm a gypsy brewer, I don't want my own brewery. Instead, I want to look for competent people who can transform my recipe into the kind of beer I like”.
The first major project that Mikkel and Dirk dove into together was the production of a Single Hop Series: a range of 21 beers brewed using the same recipe, but with different hops. De Proef hired PhD student Ann Van Holle, of the University of Ghent, to lead The Single Hop Technology Project. The project aimed to analyze different types of hops from around the world. In this process, they discovered that there was no guarantee that the hops you bought were actually the hops you received. Therefore, Mikkeller and De Proef began to acquire hops directly from the hop farmers. The project has been of great importance to microbreweries around the world, and has raised the requirements for the quality of hops in general.
“Our Single Hop Series is one of the projects in collaboration with De Proef of which I am most proud, because it has meant that both beer drinkers and brewers around the world now actually know what types of hops they prefer, and that beer labels now also indicate which specific hop variety a beer contains. Before, it just said 'hops' on the ingredients list”
Mikkel says.
Like a solid marriage Another project Mikkel is particularly proud of is the range of non-alcoholic beers that Mikkeller and De Proef have produced together. The development of a new yeast strain for this purpose has meant that it has become possible to brew versatile non-alcoholic beers that have lots of flavor and fullness.
“A few years back it was simply not possible to brew an alcohol-free beer that actually tasted of something”
He says.
The Mikkeller Spontan Series, which consists of a large number of barrel aged spontaneously fermented beers, is also worth highlighting as a notable result of Mikkeller's fruitful collaboration with De Proef Brouwerij.
Dirk Naudts describes the collaboration with Mikkeller as a long marriage. After years of experience it has found an unusually solid and stable ground, he says:
“The problems are always solved in a pleasant and good way, and we have reached a point where we fully understand each other and can spend our time concentrating on quality and organization”.
When Mikkeller started brewing at the Proef in 2007, the brewery brewed 10000 hl and had 10 employees. In comparison the brewery brewed 90000 hl in 2019 and now has 48 people working there.
Read more about Mikkeller's collaboration with De Proef Brouwerij here: https://mikkeller.dk/news/mikkeller-launches-a-new-style-of-alcohol-free-beer https://mikkeller.dk/news/mikkeller-launches-terroir-series
Warpigs Brewpub
When Mikkel Bjergsø started creating bars and restaurants it was very much a way of building a home for the (phantom) brewery, and also quickly became a way of educating Copenhageners (and others) about beer. After opening four bars (two in Copenhagen, one in San Francisco and one in Bangkok) plus a small restaurant called Øl & Brød (Beer & Bread) in Copenhagen – all with strong individual concepts - he started dreaming about starting a true American brewpub in Copenhagen. Many of the restaurants in the Danish capital were very 'new nordic', and Mikkel wanted to do something different, so he turned to his longtime friends from the legendary American brewery Three Floyds and came up with a concept that would turn the Copenhagen beer scene on its head and showcase amazing, hoppy beers to a beer loving audience. In April 2015, Mikkeller & Three Floyds opened their brewpub with Texan BBQ, Warpigs, named after the famous Black Sabbath song.
While Warpigs has earned a solid name for itself in the beer world by producing a steady stream of hoppy winners (brewed on-site – and only on tap), they also boast a line of acclaimed stouts, as well as a cellar full of spent spirit barrels in which to age them.
A large contributing factor to the quality of beer is the mineral composition of the groundwater available to the brewers. At Warpigs, they essentially deconstruct the groundwater used for brewing, and then rebuild it to get the optimal mineral ratio. The goal of this process is to recreate the water used by Three Floyds, located in Munster, Indiana. Just as the water in Pilsen is essential for brewing pilsners, the water near Three Floyds is ideal for brewing hoppy beers.
Warpigs Head Brewer Philipp Heist explains:
“What makes this place special is that it's a small brewhouse with a lot of fermenters. This means that we can brew 8-9 beers a week, and the beauty in this lies in the short distance from the tank to the taps. That gives us an efficient grip on quality. It also means that we have the opportunity to try out crazy things and see if they work. Still though, making the best beer is our prime focus. I mean, we’re really pampered and blessed with the cellar and this location in general, and that, I think, is best for the consumer”.
More about Warpigs here: https://warpigs.dk
Mikkeller Brewpub London
Just one year after the spectacular opening of Mikkeller Bar London in Shoreditch – Mikkeller's first London location – Mikkeller and Rick Astley opened a brewpub in Exmouth Market in Clerkenwell. The two-floor brewpub contains a bar and restaurant, as well as a brewery that can produce 7.5 hectoliters of beer at a time. The in-house brewery supplies the bar with completely fresh beer and infuses the space's 264 square meters with the comforting aroma of malt and hops.“London is a fantastic city with a great brewing scene and many new, young breweries, and we are really looking forward to becoming a part of it,” said Mikkel Bjergsø, founder and owner of Mikkeller, at the opening.
The Mikkeller brewpub is based around the simple notion that it is a space where beer and food are both crafted and enjoyed; it's a space where loud laughter seems to be the norm instead of hushed small talk. The space embraces a raw, industrial feel while simultaneously surprising guests with quirky details, cozy design elements, and a strong sense of the Mikkeller DNA. This is achieved through the use of high-quality materials mixed with a sublime design execution.
“This is not a restaurant with a brewery, it is a brewery with a restaurant,” emphasizes Caroline Engelgaar, Creative Director of Femmes Régionales, who once again has been in put in charge of the interior design.
