Northeast Minneapolis is losing another taproom. HeadFlyer Brewing announced on social media that it will close the doors on its spacious E. Hennepin Avenue taproom on April 5, ending a nine-year run in the historic Miller Textile building at 861 E. Hennepin Ave. The news hit hard for regulars—wedding photos, cribbage nights, and big-game watch parties have flooded the brewery's Facebook page since the announcement. But HeadFlyer isn't going away. The owners are pivoting to a distribution-only model, and the space could soon house another brewery: Dangerous Man.
Here's what we know, and what it means when a brewery closes its taproom but keeps its beer.
The Announcement
Co-owners Amy and Neil Miller and partner Austin Lee shared the news in a post on Instagram. In it, they wrote:
"After nearly a decade together, the time has come for us to pivot our operating model. What began truly as a dream in Amy and Neil's garage grew into something far bigger and more meaningful than we ever imagined, and we are so incredibly proud of what we have accomplished!"
They did not cite specific reasons beyond the need to change their structure. They did, however, make clear that the brand will continue:
"We will continue developing new delicious beers and keeping our OG favorites in rotation, distributing to liquor stores, bars and restaurants."
Their beers will be made elsewhere—the Star Tribune reports production will continue at another facility—while the taproom space may be taken over by another brewer. The taproom had become a neighborhood staple—one of the biggest and best-loved patios in town, a handmade cribbage table, and a packed calendar of cribbage tournaments, comedy shows, trivia nights, and watch parties. HeadFlyer has lined up a busy slate of collaborations and send-off events through early April, including a St. Patrick's Day bash. The brewery continues to operate through April 5.
The Space and the Rumor Mill
HeadFlyer is housed in the four-story Miller Textile building, built in 1902, which also hosts a popular Five Watt Coffee outlet. The building's southern end has been home to HeadFlyer since 2017.
Talk on message boards and among beer fans points to Dangerous Man as the likely next tenant. The Star Tribune reported that Dangerous Man representatives would not immediately comment. The brand was bought by a new owner last fall after the original taproom closed in 2023 and the Maple Lake production facility shut down in March 2025. A return to a brick-and-mortar taproom in Northeast would mark a notable comeback for the brand.
Northeast Minneapolis: A Churn of Breweries
HeadFlyer's exit adds to a stretch of turnover for breweries in Northeast Minneapolis. Able Seedhouse closed in 2022. The former 612 Brewing taproom changed over to Padraigs Brewing in 2023. Fair State Brewing Cooperative filed for bankruptcy in February 2024, re-emerged seven months later, but then closed its taproom in December 2025—and, like HeadFlyer, Fair State continues to make and sell its beer through other outlets.
These are just some of the many brewery closures around Minnesota since 2023. As the Star Tribune has reported, many breweries went into debt during the COVID-19 pandemic and struggled to recover. Production costs went up—in part due to tariffs—while the consumer base shifted, with fewer young adults consuming alcohol. This year has already seen the closure of Waconia Brewing and Duluth's Hoops Brewing, plus Invictus in Blaine and Schram Haus in Chaska at year's end.
Customer response to HeadFlyer's pending closure has been as strong or stronger than any of the others. "This saddens me so much," Kristen Anderson posted on HeadFlyer's Facebook page along with a picture of her wedding at the brewery. Bob LeBrec wrote, "Yours was the first brewery I went to that looked like it was actually built from the ground up, [when] most at the time looked like abandoned warehouses."
Closing the Taproom, Keeping the Brewery: What That Split Means
HeadFlyer is not shutting down. It's shutting down the taproom. The distinction matters, and it's one we're seeing more often.
A taproom is a retail operation. It requires real estate, staffing, utilities, permits, events programming, and a steady stream of foot traffic. It's a hospitality business grafted onto a manufacturing business. When it works, it's high-margin and brand-building. When it doesn't—when rent is high, labor is tight, or traffic drops—it can bleed a brewery dry.
A brewery, in the narrow sense, is a production facility. It makes beer. That beer can be sold through a taproom, through distribution, or both. HeadFlyer is choosing to drop the taproom and focus on distribution: liquor stores, bars, and restaurants. The beer stays. The place where you drank it does not.
This is the same playbook Fair State used. It's the playbook many contract brewers have used for years—they never had a taproom to begin with. What's new is seeing established taproom brands make the call to walk away from the room while keeping the beer. It suggests that for some breweries, the taproom has become a liability rather than an asset.
Why would that be? A few possibilities:
Real estate and labor. Taprooms in desirable neighborhoods—like Northeast Minneapolis—command premium rent. Staffing a full-service taproom with events, food, and a patio is labor-intensive. If margins have compressed and traffic has softened, the math can flip. Dropping the taproom eliminates the biggest fixed costs: lease and front-of-house labor.
Focus. Running a taproom and running a brewery are different skills. Events, marketing, and hospitality compete for attention with production, quality control, and distribution. Some ownership groups are better suited to one than the other. Pivoting to distribution-only lets HeadFlyer concentrate on what they do well: making beer.
Distribution as the better bet. In a crowded taproom market, standing out is hard. On a shelf or a tap wall, the beer competes on taste and brand, not on patio size or trivia night. For a brand with an established following, distribution can be more predictable and less capital-intensive than maintaining a flagship taproom.
The "taproom-first" model under pressure. The craft boom was built in part on taprooms—direct-to-consumer sales, high margins, and a built-in marketing channel. But that model assumed growth. In a contracting market, taprooms that depended on novelty or event-driven traffic can struggle. HeadFlyer's owners said they're "pivoting" their operating model. That language suggests they're adapting, not surrendering.
None of this is to say that taprooms are doomed. Plenty of breweries thrive with a taproom-first or taproom-heavy model. But the HeadFlyer and Fair State moves show that the taproom is no longer the default anchor. For some breweries, it's optional. For others, it's a cost they can no longer carry.
The View From Here
HeadFlyer's announcement is bittersweet. The taproom meant something to a lot of people—weddings, first visits, cribbage, comedy. Those memories don't disappear when the doors close. But the beer will still be around. That's the trade the owners are making: give up the place, keep the product.
The craft beer industry is in a period of rationalization. Breweries are making hard choices about what to keep and what to cut. HeadFlyer's choice—taproom out, distribution in—is one we'll likely see more of. It's not a failure. It's a pivot. And for a brand that started in a garage and grew into a neighborhood institution, it might be the move that lets them brew for another decade.
If you're in the Twin Cities, raise a glass before April 5. The patio won't be there forever. The beer will.
Operational discipline matters more than ever in a market like this. BrewLedger is built to support it—see how it works when you're ready.