One can only imagine the uproar that would ensue were a teacher in a less liberal European country show two of his students how to brew beer in the school kitchen – Mikkel Borg Bjergsø would probably be in jail if he was British, but what would have Daily Mail readers breaking out the pitchforks over here has turned into a successful business venture in Denmark. Let’s face it, they’re just way cooler than we are.
The first outlet for Mikkel’s microbrewery in Copenhagen first caught our eye in 2011, and now his former pupils Tore Gynther and Tobias Emil Jensen (themselves the owners of their own brewery, To Øl) have joined him in opening Mikkeller and Friends in the same city – if the first one made us tipsy with it’s homespun yet modernist interior, this new venue has left us positively giddy. Karsten K Lülloff and Kristian Lillelund were the men who put the bars in this bar; a multitude of thin bone-like ribs form the seating partitions, light housings and even the bar itself, all bathed in a cool turquoise backdrop. Mikkel and Friends was born out of a need to take some of the strain off the super-popular first outlet, but if things continue like this, they’ll have to think about taking the micro out of their microbrewery tag.