Mikkeller Bar

Pretentious, unfriendly and a mediocre selection.
I think the place was decorated by a hipster who spends way too much time on Pinterest. But that is a personal turn off, nothing to do with service or offerings.
Service — I sat at the bar and was «greeted» by Christian (I asked for him name). He didn’t smile, no social etiquette, not even a «How is your day going?» Basically, put the menu in front of me, walked away, then came back later to take my order. He acted as if he was entitled to a better a job, but he was stuck having to do this one. A vending machine could have done his job. Especially, in a place that specializes in craft beers you be asking your customers what they like and guide them towards offering that they may like. Note: it was 1:30pm on Monday and there were 7 other people in there. It was not busy.
The Beer — This really is subjective. But I was not impressed with what they had to offer. Especially having just come off of SF beer week. I believe they had 42 beers on tap and 13 of them were their own Mikkeller brews. They have a large bottled beer selection too. I did like that they served different beers at different temperatures. This is a service lacking in many places. Now… going back to the pretentiousness. Even if your a place specializing in foreign beer, you’re in the US. Why the hell does your menu have everything listed in centiliters? It is only going to confuse most people.
The Food — I did not try.
If your a beer lover there are far better places to go. Besides the service, the place is not bad. It’s just not good.

The day we visited Mikkeller Bar became our personal national holiday, in spirit; we’ve been stalking the Danish gypsy brewery, to which it belongs, ever since. A broad selection of Mikkeller beers (hard to find and constantly changing) are served in the bar, as well as a wide range of imported beers. Should you be confused by the variety of choices, there is little need to panic, since basically any option we’ve seen is inspired; the bartenders are also quick to recommend. Try one of their saisons, sours, IPAs (mosaic), or even their fantastic pilsner ‘American Dream’.
Not only are the beers served at Mikkeller great, but their interior ambiance also matches in taste and class. Their décor is minimal and industrial, featuring varied textures and exposed piping. The Mikkeller brand murals and quirky lighting also help make this spot suitable for hours of relaxed drinking. Even the seating’s thought through, since there are spots to host almost any party size: 1 to 10 people can easily be seated comfortably. All in all, Mikkeller bar is an amazing place for beer geeks and casual drinkers alike. Bring your favorite people (and a well-​filled wallet) and you’ll have a blast!

This place has excellent food, great service, and a beer list guaranteed to make your eyes light up. In the TL away from many city snobs, this place is most definitely a gem.

I love the variety of beer that they have here! I’ve only been here once and I was feeling boring at the time and ordered the Tenderloin Pale Ale but it was still good. My friends ordered a variety of beer and they were all pretty good! The big tables are reserved for 5 or more and my group just hit the sweet spot (they also charge a 20% gratuity for 6 people, we had 5 so we could have the table and not pay the gratuity). jokes aside, this place deserves the tip. It is awesome for beer!

By far one of my favorite bars in the SF.
My only complaint is that it can be hard to find standing space to place my beers.
Anyways, I first learned about Mikkeller when I was in Copenhagen and was excited when I found out they had a location in SF. I’ve been coming here since they opened and am always excited about their tap list. They’re one of the few bars that temperature regulate their beer based on type so they don’t serve their stouts at the same temperature as a wheat ale. The bartenders are super knowledgeable and can offer plenty of advice and tasting notes, which is a huge plus. They’ll also offer tastings before you choose, though they seemed to have started limiting it to only 2 a person. The taps are often rotated and offer beer options from a wide variety of craft breweries around the world, making this a great place to try new beers.
This place gets really busy so it can be tough to get the attention of the bartenders, especially if you’re not in a normal bar seat (they have seating «behind» the bar along a brick wall). It’s a bit more manageable with the waitstaff, but when it’s busy, the booths are reserved for people ordering food. Other than booths, there’s also a decently large communal table near the stairs and «couches» near the front. On especially crowded nights, you can go to the downstairs bar, which is often pretty empty. However, they don’t have taps downstairs so the bartenders have to run up and downstairs to get your order. They do have bottle pours downstairs though, just as in the main bar. This area can also be reserved for private events.
The food offers are much more sparse and not nearly at the same level as the beer. It always nice to see a place serve more than the standard burger.

We came here during SF Beer Week. It wasn’t too crowded for a Thursday evening and was well lit. This place has SO many beer on tap options! They’ve got an extensive menu organized by temperature and all kinds of beer. I heard the beers rotate often on the menu. I’d highly recommend it if you like beer.

This place is awesome, the beer is on point! The bar back Solomon was the best! He greeted us and made sure that we were all set. He also had great recommendations on food, and clubs in the area! We will definitely be coming back thanks to him.
If you want great ambience and awesome service this is the place!

I know you would never go to a trendy bar in the TL with a ton of cool things rotating through the taps and lots of bottle selections (passion fruit beer?) and order a salad, but they have the king of kale salads. This kale salad pwns all the kale salads in SF, and I’ve had a lot of kale salads from many different places. You could hate kale, and you would take a liking to this salad. The tough exterior of the kale is softened, but not made soggy, by the amazing caesar dressing (I normally dislike caesar, but this dressing is superb. Not too pungent, overly garlicky, fishy, or grainy). They top the salad with hearty shavings of grana pando cheese. If you’re into slices of anchovies, a mere $ 2. They have classics like burgers and sausage samplers, but also cool sammie twists like tofu bahn mi, and Prince Edward muscles. Gastropub-​like tapas with tempura cauliflower, salt cod cakes, and charcuterie. Tiny venue but lots of bar space for standing or loitering. Great energy on a weekend evening. Definitely one of SF’s coolest nooks.

You have to. You just have to. I was here 2 nights and I came here twice. Well, one time was during the day but that’s how much I liked it. I didn’t want to go anywhere else. Friday night was busy but not packed and I found a solo seat at the bar quite easily. Find a beer to drink was a little intimidating since the list is so long, both the draft and bottles. However, I wasn’t going to miss out on the sours that they had here.
The bartenders were great, I mean, there were so many people coming from every angle on a busy Friday night but I was checked in on to see if I was doing all right, get another beer.
I went back during the day when I got a moment and ended up getting their bratwurst lunch deal which was paired with a beer. A pretty good deal, with a good sausage and beer and easy, just so so easy to sit there and just have ‘one more.’ I had a plane to catch though so it meant I had no choice but to leave.

Aha! Another fantastic SF beer bar to add to my growing list! This one, however, is a little different from the others (Monk’s Kettle, La Trappe, Fat Angel, etc) because it focuses on drafts rather than bottles. So the massive beer list you get, organized beautifully according to serving temperature (lighter, crisper beer tend to be served at a colder temperature than darker, heavier, more alcoholic beers) is ALL available on draft. This means that if, like me, you get overly excited and begin bouncing on your bar-​stool, unsure whether to choose between two smack-​you-​in-​the-​mouth-​with-​smooth-​velvet quads, they will give you a sample of each. And then, like me, you can just go ahead and get both anyway because you can’t choose.
THE SPACE is nice and large, which is unusual for SF beer bars. I love Fat Angel and Monk’s Kettle, but there’s always a huge wait there, so having a beer means being steam-​pressed by half a dozen bodies. Mikkeller gets a little crowded around the bar, obviously, but there are plenty of places to sit and space to mingle.
THE CROWD is a massive sausage-​fest. I don’t mean that they serve sausage (although they do, as well as other food that looked very good), but that it’s cram-​jam full of DUDES. Bro-​y dudes and hipster dudes and lumberjack dudes and tech-​y dudes and eff-you-woman-don’t-put-me-in-a-box dudes. That being said, it wasn’t a meat market – people were friendly and having a good time, but no one was there to ogle each other and stagger, zombie-​like, through a miasma of pheromones. (my feelings on places like that are somewhat obvious)
THE BEERS flippin’ rock. It’s not a place for wine-​drinkers (they only have about 4 mediocre choices), so bring your wino friends elsewhere in case their sour grapes ruin the vibe (har har, I’m proud of that one). They have a fantastic selection of every kind of beer you can want, domestic and imported, and an impressive variety of their own brews. Mikkeller is actually a brewery in Copenhagen, but they have space in SF and collaborate with AleSmith for the beers sold here. They’ve got a great range but they specialize in sours and lambics. You can get a great selection of these on the draft list, or you can order from their bottle list, which primarily includes full, 750ml bottles. This is the only beer place in the city (that I’ve found) that has such a selection of sours and lambics, so it’s worth a try just to enjoy the best of that style. Though if, like me, that’s not your preference, there are tons of other choices.
I’ll be back for sure. Probably bringing some beer-​loving girls.

I could say I’ve had a better chimichurri slathered steak frites ($ 18) in a better beer bar on the West Coast, but I’d be lying.
I could describe the environment as gaudy gauche with soft, pillowy walls upholstered in microfiber and lattice drapery, but I’d be lying.
I could convince you the global draft list is a million-​billion brews long, but I’d be lying. (It’s only a thousand-​billion.)
I could deny each beer is served at its appropriate temperature, and they do not serve a funky passionfruit IPA called Mastadon Mother Puncher, but I’d be lying.
I could profess my absolute adoration for Mikkeller, and I am. And it’s absolute truth.

The few blocks surrounding the area can be a little «rough» but once inside it’s clean and modern with plenty of seats at the bar along with plenty of tables. Was walking somewhere else with my brother and once I saw that they had not one but two cask conditioned ales, I had to have.
Cask conditioned ales are awesome, they come from smaller wooden barrels that you hand pump to extract instead of the typical steel/​aluminum keg. The result is a fresher tasting beer. I liked mine and for $ 6, solid price. As you can guess, the rest of their beer menu is pretty legit too.
The crowd was more 30 – 40’s with people that work nearby. I doubt any of the patrons listen to wu tang or mobb deep or any other east coast hip hop but I found it funny that’s what was playing. Definitely worth the short walk from Union Square if you’re a beer fan.

Get carded before you get in, great.
Super packed place, you can put your name on the list, get a text when a table is ready. You can get a drink at the bar, but it’s so packed you’ll be standing. I suggest going an hour early and putting your name down. I got there at 6pm and basically waited almost 50min to get a table.
The food was alright, bratwurst and fries. The fries were extra crispy, as if they double fried them. Mac and cheese, was alright, I’ve had better, but it was good. Chimichurri steak was alright, I liked the greens and potatoes more than the steak.
Bathrooms were downstairs, I think there was also another bar down there as well or maybe for private events.
Service was alright, food came out after a long while.
Beer…so this is a beer place, don’t come here for wine. They serve beer at its specific temperatures depending on the type of beer. I had a stout, really good after asking for a recommendation of what I wanted. My friends had a bunch of other beer, and they were gross besides the blonde.
Overall, decent place I suppose, bit pricey for the food and long wait.

Popular Danish hip beer bar. Very packed with the after work crowd. Fun atmosphere. Just stopped off for a quick beer with friends.
Salads looked really good.

4.5.
To start with, I have also been to the MIkkeller Bar in Copenhagen (Mikkeller hometown) and it was also delicious — but also way more cramped.
I love that these guys whole idea is that they partner and brew with other breweries. Here is to sharing the love and craft of beer. You’ll notice that many of the beers on their menu are brewed by them AND someone else.
Beer. Excellent. Five stars.
We got eight in total. (No, I was not alone. Yes, there were only two of us. We like beer, and many of their pours are only 25cl.)
1. Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas — Like. Could taste the ginger, not so much the Pine Needles.
2. Southern Passion — My Favorite beer of the evening. Good and happy, yet still mild. Crisp and clean. Citrus.
3. Red/​White Christmas — Very malty. Very strong. Not my personal favorite.
4. Tenderloin IPA — I mean, it’s a limited release — you HAVE to get it. Tasted like, well, an IPA.
5. Frost Bite — Mild orange and pine flavor
6. Wheat is the New Hops — Didn’t taste at all like a Wheat Beer to me, but I liked it. Clean tasting
7. Pop That — VERY Cherry. Sour.
8. Maximum Joy — Solid IPA.
Food. Four stars. Good Stuff.
1. Fries. I like fries. These were in fact crispy. Good stuff.
2. Ranger Pups. Kinda spicy. But liked them. Greasy, but not tooooo greasy.
3. Kale Caesar. I was expecting a plat of like three pieces of kale with like three croutons on top. NOT SO! I got a large plate of delicious kale! yay!
4. Chimichurri Steak. First, I love it when you order it medium rare and it comes out PINK. But know that they cook on the rare side of medium rare. But, having said that — perfectly cooked. Really good chimichurri. The potatoes that came with it were too spicy and the broccolini was over cooked. So disappointing sides. We didn’t eat them. Oh well.
Service. Five stars. As my husband says «I don’t know if, while I’ve lived in San Francisco, I’ve ever had a SECOND bartender come over and ask if someone has helped me yet.» (This happened). Very prompt.
Price. $ 114 for two for three hours in a bar in downtown San Francisco? Well, welcome to the city.
Overall a great outing. Also, really fun to text our friend who took us to the Mikkeller Bar in Copenhagen and make him jealous. :)

I’ve always known Mikkeller, but I’ve never known how to pronounce or spell it.
Far as I can tell «Mikkeller» is actually two Danish Home-​Brewing Bros that brew their bohemian brews at bodacious breweries throughout the big blue marble.
Some are Belgiany, some are hoppy, some are malt bombs.
They are all over-​the-​top big and unique beers. They are all challenging beers. These are not «easy» beers.
I was in San Francisco for work and typed «beer» into Unilocal and this guy floated to the top.
WHAT?! Mikkeller is a BAR in ‘Merica now?! I thought Mikkeller was just two BROS?
I walked here immediately. I drank tons of unique, inspiring, outstanding ales.
Place had a perfect brewery energy and the food looked great (I was full, unfortunately).
If you’re into beer, and in San Francisco, this should be your first stop.
Make sure you have transportation home, they’ve got enough high gravity brews here to put down even a happy horse.

Too bad I wasn’t feeling wine last night, they do have a large selection of beer, and their wine was whatever.
Service was great, we got lucky that a couple tables left right after we got there so we didn’t have to wait. If you’re NOT getting dinner, you can head straight to the bar area though!
Meat and Cheese Board: The Pork Pâté was delicious, definitely a must get if you’re getting the board. For cheese, we got the blue cheese and the truffle cheese. Sorry I forgot their fancy names… personally not a big fan of blue cheese, but the truffle was yummy. Went really well with the accouterments that they gave us.
Sausage Platter: We got 5 different types of sausages with their toppings, they were all very unique and tasty. I like how they included the toppings for the sausages, they went well with the toasts!
Since we were getting a second round of drinks, we also ordered
Chimichurri Flank Steak: The sauté broccolis were not cooked well, the stems were hard still… if only they can cook it longer a bit more. The flank steak itself was a-​ok, tasted more like medium than medium rare.
Overall a pretty good place with a great selection of food and drinks! A+ for on point gastropub ambiance!

Not only does Mikkeller have a list of amazing craft beers on tap, they have bartenders who are GREAT at making recommendations. I love IPAs and darks, and my boyfriend loves sours, and most of the recommendations that were given by the bartender were stellar.
If you love craft beer, I’d really suggest sitting at the bar, where it’s easy to communicate what you want to the bartender. They’re also very generous with samples, which I absolutely love because. who wants to drink a tall glass of something that isn’t what you expected? Bleh.
We also ordered a few meals:
Mac and Cheese –This was okay. The cheese was heavy and creamy, but there wasn’t that much flavor to it.
Mussells– So much flavor, and so good! It also comes with two slices of bread that I dipped into the stew because that tasty stew is so worth savoring.
Bratwurst Sausage– Decent. I mean, the sausage itself was flavorful and juicy, but the house kraut was a bit overpowering.
For the most part, the beers are totally worth coming here for. The food is not bad, but could be better.

Mikkeller Bar, even if you aren’t familiar with Mikkeller, is one of the best beer bars in the city, and definitely my favorite downtown.
For those of you not familiar with Mikkeller, he is a brewer from Denmark who maybe not invented but definitely really popularized the concept of gypsy brewing — he doesn’t have a home brewery, but instead collaborates with other breweries to make one offs. Certain beers they make all year round, and some are rare to find. Fortunately they have a number of the brewers’ beers on tap here, or in bottles.
While a bit close to the Tenderloin, the place has a friendly bouncer staying warm outside and talking with people. Once you enter, head straight to the bar or wait for a seat. Sometimes there will be a wait for either, but people move in and out frequently.
The bar itself has over 30 beers on tap, in 4 temperatures — 45 degrees, 55 degrees, cask, and colder than 45. The menu changes daily and they describe the style, location, alcohol content and more. There is also a bottled beer menu, but with so many on tap, unless it is a great deal, hard to not get draft. They do have a limited food menu, mostly snacks, charcuterie, burgers and dogs, but also daily specials, like Taco Tuesday (note: this part is easy to skip).
The only reason it is 4 stars in the price. A lot of the bottles go for twice as much as you can get at Whole Foods or other local liquor stores. Yeah, Spontanmandarin is something I haven’t seen, but I did pick up the Spontangooseberry for $ 15 in bottle, much cheaper than the $ 23 on the menu. There also is a manic energy with the staff, there are a lot of them, but also a lot of patrons, so put a card down, and try to flag someone down when you can.

We had a lot of catching up to do.
My friend recently lost her virginity at the ripe age of 32 and I wanted to know the details. Elaborate, Bitch. You must elaborate. So we looked for some place quiet enough to where I could hear her, but loud enough to where no one could hear us.
Mikkeller Bar… you fabulous.
A shitload of craft beer on tap. I was impressed at the selection of ales, IPAs, honey meads, stouts and such. It seemed like they were on top of the latest trends in the whole beer scene. We didn’t want food, but if you all ever happen to be hungry, the selection appeared to be a couple of notches above bar food… some slightly fancy stuff. And the place was dim enough not to be seen, but lit enough so you could see. A happy medium.
And as we drank the night away, glasses never empty (thanks to our sexy, but don’t even THINK about touching him because he’s married, bartender), I got an earful of the chain of events that led my friend from being a clueless fair maiden, to a prostitute slut.
Go girl, witcha bad self.
Keep on sexin’ on.

Der Craftbeer Himmel auf Erden. San Francisco kann ja so einiges, aber hier mal wieder ein Schatz der sich geschickt zwischen Shopping und den ganzen Touri-​Fallen versteckt.
Auch wenn ich mit meinen grauen «Strähnen» hier noch meinen Ausweis zeigen muss, hält mich das nicht mehr davon ab bei jedem Besuch hier vorbeizuschauen. Der Laden ist regelmäßig gefüllt und glänzt durch eine schier unendliche Auswahl an Craftbeer — ja sogar Kölsch. Aber da hat mir die Kellnerin von abgeraten, da ich auch Köln bin und meine Ansprüche an das Cali-​Kölsch sicher zu hoch wären — klever: D
Auch Burger gibt es hier und die sind nicht von schlechten Eltern. Das muss man aber auch grundsätzlich festhalten. Burger haben in den USA einfach grundsätzlich einen besseren Standard. Warum wohl?! :-)
Also wer sich in dem Shopping-​Getümmel mal kurz erholen möchte, einfach hier vorbeischauen und sich mal durch den Craftbeer-​Jungle testen.

Aos q gostam de cerveja artesanal e salsicha (alemã) fica a dica! Local muito massa!!!