(Mikkeller DTLA – Gone, Baby Gone)

In the same month that saw the legendary RateBeer website acquired by a software company, news that a prime Mikkeller bar in Los Angeles had abruptly closed, furthering concern that craft beer’s hot streak is ending…

What we may be seeing is the beginning of what Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione referenced as a possible bloodbath coming, with an industry built for boom years now confronted with a significant craft beer slowdown.

Mikkeller DTLA (Downtown LA) was a franchise operation owned by Chuck Stilphen, who also runs another San Francisco location. Once heralded as a “game changer” by LA Eater, the branded craft beer bar which had just ‘celebrated’ its third anniversary has now gone dark.

It was a bar not a brewpub, all of the Mikkeller beers served there were brewed in San Diego and trucked north to the franchise’s South Park location. Not the best situation to begin with for an international brewing name at a time when being local is king.

Mikkeller, which was founded in Copenhagen as a gypsy operation by Mikkel Borg Bjergsø Kristian Klarup Keller in 2006, now owns two breweries in Denmark and two in the US (New York and San Diego) so the beer served at Mikkeller DTLA was hardly local.

The beer was considered by many to be too pricey (even by craft beer or LA standards) especially for a developing neighborhood still trying to find it’s footing beyond being home to the Staples Center. When the Lakers, Clippers or Kings the hood is booming other times not so much. Its residential buildout was also growing slower than expected.

Mikkeller DTLA was a large venue in an arena neighborhood with a fluctuating population that struggled to stay busy much of the time. It used to house a coffee shop as well…but that closed last year.

And during the craft beer boom, it might have been able to establish itself as a hip beer destination and ride out the neighborhood’s transition…But not in a world with nearly 8,000 US breweries online and interest in craft beer waning.

In a February 23 a staff-wide email from Operating Partner Chuck Stilphen leaked out, stating that Mikkeller DTLA had never broken even, and that he drained his own personal finances to keep the business going…

And the beat goes on…