From Grubstreet -
Why New York Beer Geeks Are So Excited About a New Brewery Inside Citi Field
For the kind of beer lovers who freak out over Imperial Stouts and New England–style IPAs, there aren’t many names bigger than Mikkeller. Over the last 12 years, founder Mikkel Borg Bjergso has established his Danish brand as a trendsetter (it was early to the gypsy-brewer scene) and, arguably, one of the world’s best brewers. Bjergso has made his name by taking aspects of modern craft beer (the big, sometimes weird flavors; limited-run creations) and pushing them to their least logical extremes. As a result, Mikkeller expanded from Denmark to Thailand, with breweries in Copenhagen, San Diego, and now New York. This past weekend, Mikkeller’s first East Coast outpost opened in Queens, at Citi Field, and — to those people who love heft stouts and juicy IPAs — it’s a very big deal. Here’s why beer geeks in New York and beyond are so excited for this opening.
1. The new brewery will be a hub for Mikkeller’s restless innovation. Mikkeller produces a lot of different types of beer. The New York Times once reported that Mikkeller produced 124 different beers in 2013 alone, and today, the website RateBeer currently lists 1,062 different beers and barley wines in the brewery’s profile. Even the most dedicated Mikkeller superfan would never be able to track down everything, but with the new brewery, that superfan at least has a destination where they can go and basically always find something new to try.
2. Mikkeller’s beers push craft beer’s big flavors to the extreme. One reason Mikkeller makes so many different beers is that the brewery is willing to try things nobody else will: Among Mikkeller’s many experiments are the so-called 1000 IBU; the Beer Geek series of flavored stouts like the Vanilla Raspberry Smoothie; and the Whenever Pilsner brewed with lime leaf, lemongrass, and ginger. Bjergso also goes all-in in collaborations (like with David Lynch) and small-batch beers, reportedly once purchasing $8,000 in truffles for a beer. (Not everything is so extreme, though. The Say Hey Sally, produced for the Mets, is a Czech-style pilsner.)
Full article here.