Dangerous Man Brewing’s taproom to close due to post-COVID sales decline and costly real estate, owner says

MINNEAPOLIS — A pioneer in the Twin Cities craft brewing world is closing its doors.

For more than 10 years, Dangerous Man Brewing has been a craft brewing staple in northeast Minneapolis. 

But on Friday, an announcement on social media: They’re shutting down their taproom.

“Quite an emotional time for us,” said Rob Miller, Dangerous Man’s head brewer and co-owner.

Miller owns Dangerous Man alongside Sarah Bonvallet.

“I think we were like the 26th brewery in the state that opened,” said Miller.

Dangerous Man Brewing to close taproom in October

According to Miller, they rented their space at Northeast 13th Avenue and Northeast 2nd Street, and that the landlord put the building up for sale a couple years ago.

The building had become increasingly expensive and out of their price range, leaving someone else to buy the building.

“It’s been fricking really amazing just to see that growth, be a part of that growth,” said Miller.

He said the taproom took a hit post-COVID. They just weren’t seeing the sales they once did.  

“We really didn’t want the business to just die a slow death,” he said.

So the couple opened a production facility in Maple Lake, where they’ve lived on a farm for six years. They now sell their product outside the taproom, hoping to offset the losses and keep their brand alive.

“It was either like we need to close the taproom down and be done and just do something completely different, or we need to start a different part of our business, add to the business, diversify our income,” he said.

Future plans are still to be determined.

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“We’re going to take some time to just kind of reevaluate. There’s a lot of ideas we have, having an event space on our farm, with music and beer and food, and a potential tap room maybe down the road is not out of the question,” he said.

Future plans with the building will be announced Monday.

Dangerous Man is definitely not done, said Miller. Their beer will still be available on liquor store shelves.

WCCO asked about what the closure means for Dangerous Man employees. The owners said they are not commenting on staffing and layoffs.