Former pharmacist launches Minnesota’s first Black woman-owned brewery

Brittney Mikell is entering Minnesota’s brewery market with a rare first: Bubble Line Brewing Company in St. Paul’s historic Rondo neighborhood is set to become the state’s first Black woman-owned and operated brewery. The launch is about more than a new taproom. It is a test of how a new brewery can build capital, identity, and community ties in a state with more than 200 breweries and very few Black-owned operations.

Mikell’s path to ownership started far from the brewhouse. She graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy in the 2020 PharmD cohort, then began homebrewing during the COVID era. From there, she moved into professional beer work as an assistant brewer at La Doña Cervecería in Minneapolis before deciding to leave healthcare and pursue brewing full time. The brewery’s name comes from a chemistry term for the temperature at which the first bubble of vapor forms, a fitting nod to a founder who is both a pharmacist and a brewer.

Bubble Line has also framed its business around a broad taproom experience rather than a narrow beer-only model. Mikell has described the space as kid-friendly and welcoming, with plants and flowers, non-alcoholic drinks such as lemonade and lattes, and apprenticeships for brewers of color. She has said the goal is to bring joy into the room while building a path for people who have traditionally been shut out of ownership and production roles.

The choice of Rondo carries its own weight. By the early 1930s, the neighborhood was the beating heart of Saint Paul’s African American community. Then construction of Interstate 94 began in 1956 and tore through homes, businesses, and family networks. The City of Saint Paul now has an Inheritance Fund for descendants of families displaced by the I-94 corridor through Rondo, with eligible homebuyers able to receive up to $110,000 in forgivable loans. The neighborhood’s history is inseparable from the city’s broader legacy of redlining and racially restrictive covenants.

Bubble Line’s arrival also lands in a craft beer industry that still remains overwhelmingly white and male. Brewers Association data cited in coverage put brewery ownership at 93.5 percent white and 0.4 percent Black, while one report said only about 1 percent of U.S. craft breweries are Black-owned. Minnesota’s beer scene has grown fast, but representation has not kept pace. The National Black Brewers Association says its mission is to advance economic equity for African-American brewing professionals and owners, and Mikell’s brewery fits squarely into that push.

For St. Paul beer drinkers, Bubble Line is shaping up as more than a new opening. It is a market entry with a clear point of view, rooted in Rondo’s history and aimed at widening who gets to own the next chapter of Minnesota beer.