The neon lights, white tile walls and TVs in every corner are quite different than the darker colors and wood features of the original Dangerous Man Brewery. (Davis Steen)
On February 26, HeadFlyer Brewing, 861 E Hennepin Ave., announced it would be closing its taproom on April 5. Within two weeks, on March 9, Dangerous Man Brewing announced it would be taking over the spot.
“The opportunity came up for someone else to take over our taproom, and it seemed like the natural thing for us to do,” Amy Miller said during a phone interview with the Northeaster. She is the co-owner of HeadFlyer along with partner Neil Miller.
A community staple
HeadFlyer first opened its doors in April 2017. The neon-and-white clad taproom took up most of the first floor in the Miller Textile Building, which also houses Five Watt Coffee, Nash Frame Design and Mission Manor.
“The opportunity kind of came up for us to pass the torch,” Amy Miller said. “We know it’s the right decision for us and our family, but it will be a huge part of us that we will really greatly miss.”
The decision to close was wholly personal for the Millers. Neil Miller started homebrewing in 2008 and later enlisted the help of Nate Larson and Austin Lee to create the brewery and taproom.
“When we started, we had two kids, I was pregnant and we both had our full-time careers,” Amy Miller said. “It’s just being able to spend more time with our family, focus on both of us.”
HeadFlyer is the third brewery in Northeast Minneapolis to announce its closure in the past year, with BUCH boarding up in July 2025 and Fair State shutting down its taproom late last year. Unlike these earlier closures, however, this site is already leased to a familiar name to Northeasters.
From Northeast to Maple Lake to Northeast
Dangerous Man Brewing closed its taproom at 1300 2nd St. NE on October 21, 2023, then it moved to a distribution-only model for the next two years. In April 2025, the brand announced it had brewed its last beer.
On October 1, 2025, an announcement was made that Jeremy Kuhns bought Dangerous Man Brewing’s brand. The first order of business was to continue the brewing and distribution of the brand’s beer in Maple Lake, Minn.
“My original concept wasn’t to be a distribution company,” Kuhns said during an interview with the Northeaster at HeadFlyer on March 10. “What we really wanted was to be truly like a community small brewery.”
Kuhns, who drank beer a few times at the Dangerous Man taproom but otherwise wasn’t involved in the original brewery, was looking to start his own brewing location. His meeting with Rob Miller, the creator and original owner of Dangerous Man, was serendipitous.
“We were looking at equipment, and it was at that point where Rob was selling, through auction, literally all the equipment inside of that Maple Lake facility,” Kuhns said. “I started talking with him, we walked around, he gave me a tour, showed me all the stuff. I got the sense that he didn’t want to be out of the industry.”
Kuhns said that Rob Miller would continue being part of the Dangerous Man brand and taproom. “Rob’s got hundreds of recipes that he’s, you know, he’s made in the past.”
Jeremy Kuhns, the owner of Dangerous Man, pictured above under the red neon lights of HeadFlyer with Amanda Bingham, hopes to incorporate both styles in the new taproom. (Davis Steen)
Brewing in the collab
With the reported $203.1 million of economic impact from Operation Metro Surge and a Gallup Poll showing a record low in alcohol consumption, the brewing industry has been hit hard over the past year. Twin Cities taprooms have relied on collaboration to survive the storm.
“Everybody supports each other,” Amy Miller said of the brewing scene. “It’s different than other industries.”
Kuhns’ background in middle school education, having worked 18 years as a principal, helps him to understand the collaborative model that has fueled the breweries in the area.
“Working together with other brewers, I love that about the brewing industry. That is exactly how educators operate.”
This collaboration to bring back the Northeast taproom is the latest development in the Northeast brewery scene, keeping the total number of taprooms in the Northeaster coverage area at 13.
“There really is only one place it could be,” Kuhns said. “Ultimately, I think that Dangerous Man was meant to be in this community.”
Minneapolis was founded as a city of millers, so it’s only appropriate that Amy and Neil Miller will be closing their space so another Miller-owned brewery, of no relation, would be taking over the taproom in the Miller Textile Building.
HeadFlyer will close its doors on April 5. Dangerous Man hopes to open later in the spring. Kuhns couldn’t hide his excitement, joking, “We could ship some of our kegs down and maybe fire it up for the next day.”