Guinness Will Open Brewery in Maryland—Their First U.S. Brewery in 63 Years

Guinness lovers, rejoice! For the first time in 63 years, iconic Irish brewers Guinness will open a brewery in the United States. The current site under consideration is Relay, Md., an outer suburb of Baltimore. The brewery’s parent company, Diageo, is investing $50 million in the project, which is set to include a Guinness brewery, packaging warehouse and an innovative microbrewery at the company’s existing Relay facility. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan praised the brewery plans in a statement:

Guinness’ plan to build a brewery at its historic facility in Relay, Md., is great news for job creation, manufacturing and tourism in our state. 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.

The building will be based on Guinness’ popular Open Gate Brewery, which boasts experimental and rare limited-release brews. According to Diageo, “The new brewery would be a home for new Guinness beers created for the US market, while the iconic Guinness Stouts will continue to be brewed at St. James’s Gate in Dublin, Ireland.” In other words, the original Guinness will still be brewed exclusively in Ireland, while brews intended for U.S. palates will be brewed at the Maryland facility. Diageo is expecting final confirmation soon, with hopes for the construction to start in the spring and conclude in the fall. Apparently, the goal is to have Guinness U.S. open in time for the 200th anniversary of Guinness being imported to the U.S.

Read Paste’s review of the Guinness Nitro IPA, and click here to watch some trippy, fever-dream-inspired Guinness commercials from the 1970s.