Guinness is bringing brewing facilities back to U.S. shores for the first time in more than 60 years. Beer aficionados are going to love this.
Diageo, the parent company of the iconic Irish beer company, announced its intention to build a version of Dublin's popular Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore County, Maryland.
The company aims to build a mid-sized Guinness brewery and a Guinness visitor experience with an innovation microbrewery at the company's existing Relay, Maryland site. This new brewing facility and consumer experience will be a home to new Guinness beers created for the U.S. market, while the famous Guinness Stouts will continue to be brewed at St. James's Gate in Dublin.
Here's the best part: You'll be able to tour the working brewery and sample experimental beers brewed on-site at the taproom. A shop will sell Guinness merchandise.
The plan still is contingent and in the approval process.
"Opening a Guinness brewery and visitor center in the U.S. will enable us to collaborate with fellow brewers and interact with the vibrant community of beer drinkers," said Tom Day, president of Diageo Beer Company, USA. "Given the success of our Open Gate Brewery in Dublin and the popularity of beer tourism in the U.S., we are confident that Americans will welcome the opportunity to come experience Guinness brewing in Baltimore County."
The project would re-establish a Guinness brewery in the US after 63 years of absence. The new brewery and visitor experience would become part of Diageo's production facility in Relay, site of the historic Calvert Distillery which opened in 1933. Relay was chosen as the preferred location for this project for several reasons, including the site's proximity to major East Coast tourist and population hubs, availability of skilled employees, and space to build and adapt existing structures on the property.
"Beer tourism attracts millions of visitors to towns and communities across the country every year, and I look forward to welcoming Guinness to the roster of excellent breweries we have here in Maryland," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said.
Diageo hopes to receive approvals and to begin construction this spring with the goal of opening the brewery this fall to mark the 200th anniversary of Guinness being first imported into the U.S.
The Guinness brand was established in 1759 when Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin. The dark beer is brewed using four main ingredients, water, barley (malted and roasted), hops and yeast. Guinness is the world's most popular stout, brewed in 49 countries and sold in more than 150 with almost nine million daily glasses of Guinness drained daily. The beer is most popular in Great Britain, Ireland, the U.S., Nigeria and Cameroon.