Robin Shepard
Dave Hansen is making Flix more of a beer destination.
One of the area’s more overlooked breweries is likely Flix Brewhouse at East Towne Mall. Known more as a cinema that happens to have an in-house brewing system, the business took on a star-quality brewer, Dave Hansen, in December. Hansen was formerly brewer at Next Door Brewing in Madison and before that worked on Leinenkugel brands at MillerCoors in Milwaukee.
Hansen’s hiring means Flix could become more of a beer destination, especially for craft beer hunters. “We do go unnoticed by some beer people and that is something I’m trying to change,” says Hansen.
Flix operates nine theaters across the U.S., each with its own brewery. Food and beer can be delivered to customers’ theater seats, but the bar and food menu can also be accessed without going in to see a film.
While a handful of core beers are the same at all locations, Hansen is given latitude to brew unique seasonal and special releases. His most recent project was “Like The Night,” a dark brown, almost black, hazy IPA paired with the March 3 premiere of the movie The Batman. The combination of the dark color with qualities usually found in a tropical IPA is unexpected, but the Amarillo, Citra and Eldorado hop bring a fruity aroma even as the roasted barley, wheat and oats makes it look like chocolate milk.
Other upcoming specialty releases include an American strong ale to go with the summer movie Thor: Love and Thunder. It will hark back to Hansen’s Screamin’ Viking, made when he was at Next Door.
Saison du Walt, a posthumous tribute to Flix executive Walt Powell, will blend a fresh batch of saison with a barrel-aged saison that’s been sitting in the Madison brewhouse since the pandemic began two years ago.
