Brittney Mikell still remembers her first beer: a Stella Artois.
Later, as her tastes developed, she would spend hours studying at breweries around the Twin Cities while enrolled as a pharmacy student. When the pandemic hit, she took up home brewing to fill all the free time. Eventually, so captivated by the culture and community around beer, she left the pharmaceutical business behind to become a brewer.
That’s when Mikell saw an opportunity. “I woke up at one point after maybe 10 or 15 batches,” Mikell said. “I was like wait, what are the Black-owned breweries in the Twin Cities? What are the women-owned breweries in the Twin Cities?”
She knew of at least one brewery owned by women, Urban Growler in St. Paul, as well as Black-owned MetroNOME Brewery in St. Paul’s Lowertown and Montgomery Brewing in Montgomery, Minn. But none were owned by a Black woman.
Mikell, 33, has plans to open Bubble Line Brewing Company in St. Paul next year. It will be Minnesota’s first Black-woman owned brewery, located in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, a historic hub of Black residential and business activity.
“Being in these brews and being in these spaces there’s rarely anyone that looks like me, both in the people who patronize the brewery and also the people who work there,” Mikell said. “Part of this brewery is diversifying the face of craft beer.”
Starting with her lengthy study sessions while in pharmacy school, Mikell said she saw how breweries could become “third spaces” — places where people can hang outside their home or work, and where all types could feel comfortable: fellow students, people holding business meetings, and, of course, people there to relax with friends or family.
Of course, it helps if the beer is good. That’s where Mikell’s pandemic hobby comes in. Brewing became a way to flex both creative and scientific muscles, she said, as she explored flavor combinations and processes. Mikell found that creating different recipes brought her joy. Plus, the beers turned out quite well, she said.
