HeadFlyer Brewing serves last call at northeast Minneapolis taproom, with Dangerous Man set to take over

It's a bittersweet changing of kegs and hands in northeast Minneapolis as HeadFlyer Brewing issued a permanent last call on Sunday. 

Co-owners Amy and Neil Miller said that it was a difficult but necessary decision to close up shop. They first opened on Hennepin Avenue in 2017 and quickly cultivated a following that Amy Miller said allowed them to weather a craft beer industry that has taken hits in recent years. 

"We've ridden the wave like everyone else but overall it's been really succesful for us. We've been really fortunate with that," Amy Miller said. 

So, she explained, this isn't another story of a brewery succumbing to financial hardship. She said that she and her husband work full-time jobs away from the taproom, and with three kids now in their teens, they needed to find ways to establish a healthier work-life balance. 

But the Millers didn't want to sell the place; they certainly had no intention of handing over the keys to just anybody, either. They watched their children grow up and play inside the taproom that produced memories for loyal regulars over the years. It's why Amy Miller was thrilled to see that Dangerous Man Brewing, a former staple in northeast Minneapolis, was in the market for a taproom in late 2025. 

"I reached out and thought, 'Maybe this is meant to be, maybe this would work for them,'" Miller said. "Here we are." 

Andrew Burns, chief operating officer of Dangerous Man Brewing Company, said the opportunity was perfect. HeadFlyer's space is "turnkey ready," providing a taproom that would require little to no serious renovation work. 

"We have a tremendous backlog of recipes that were successful, but we also have a bunch of new ideas of crazy experimental beers," Burns said. 

Dangerous Man Brewing closed its own taproom in 2023, with owners at the time citing financial hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those owners opened a production facility in Maple Lake, Minnesota, with the idea being that product sales would offset their losses. 

In 2024, Dangerous Man Brewing took to social media in an attempt to fundraise building a beer garden at the Maple Lake site. Comments were turned off on that post, with posts on online craft beer forums indicating that customers responded negatively to the plan. 

Burns, part of a new leadership team that took over in 2025, said that the response to the planned taproom takeover in northeast Minneapolis has been "overwhelmingly positive. "

"This change of ownership allows us to inject some new energy and finish the job and come back to northeast like we always needed to," Burns said. 

While others in the industry have needed to close down permanently in Minnesota, Burns believes that the market is there for Dangerous Man to make a physical return to the Twin Cities metro. He said that the plan is to open sometime this spring. 

As for HeadFlyer, Miller said that their drinks will still be sold at restaurants and liquor stores. The partnership with Dangerous Man plays a role here; HeadFlyer's products will now be brewed at the Maple Lake site.