Guinness Open Gate Brewery & Barrel Housee
 

This long winded name is Guinness' only brewery in the US and one of its two experimental tap rooms in the world. Today was its official opening so as seekers of knowledge and truth we of course had to go Our party was DW, SIL, DD, little Teddy, now 10 months so ready to be exposed to the brewer's art, and yours truly. It is located in Relay, MD which is just outside of Baltimore and occupies an historic site - that of the first post prohibition distillery and site where Capt Morgan's Rum was distilled until a few years ago.

The building is a large, multi-story, industrial looking one adorned with the Guinness name and harp. There is plenty of parking and they were well prepared for a crowd of visitors. There is an outdoor tap room with ample seating and there were several food trucks as well and a stage set up for music to come later in the day. The brewery itself is on the first floor together with pictures and text giving the history of the company and how they brew beer. The beer to be brewed on sites is the Blonde as well as experimental brews. There will be guided tours at a later date for $10 which will include samples. Self guided touring will also be available and free. The second floor has a gift shop and a giant tap room space which today served 17 Guinness brews, many of which were experimental such as a stout brewed with cherries and several brews imported from Ireland. The tap room has very comfortable seating. Rather than tables and chairs the set up is groups sofas and coffee tables It seats about 250 and was nearly filled within an hour of its 3pm opening. It is open until 9. They also serve pub grub which included fried oyster po'boy, smoked rockfish sandwich, and an unusual looking falafel and some others . We partook of both the brew and food offerings and they were quite good I did a flight of an old style stout imported from Dublin, cherry stout, milk stout, and hoppy ale. I did not particularly care for the cherry stout and milk stout (looks like stout, not milk but contains lactose for sweetness) but others liked them. The 3rd floor is a large restaurant which is yet to open. We looked at it and it looked very nice and also comfortable.

This is meant to be not only a brewery and experimental station but also a tourist attraction with a goal of attracting 300,000 visitors a year. If today was an indication, they should meet that goal well before that time.

These are the brews served today.

​​​​​​https://www.guinnessbrewerybaltimore.com/beers-on-tap

My son and his family are headed to Baltimore for the weekend, so I just sent this to them.

Are they actually brewing the blonde onsite? I was under the impression this was brewed in the old Rolling Rock brewery.

Yes, they are. Guinness Blonde was brewed in Latrobe, PA under contract for a few years at a site where several brands were brewed, Iron City and Red Stripe being two. Production is moved to the Baltimore facility now. Here is a link to and article about the new Guinness site with some photos. I understand that the Irish flag was flying all over Baltimore yesterday.

Guinness' only U.S. brewery opens in Baltimore County - Baltimore Sun

Interesting. I’m honestly a little surprised they opened their own brewery here. Many of the foreign brewers have historically hesitated to brew in the US because they like the import label. I know that is the reason Heineken still goes through the expense to ship, for example. But I guess the Blonde is one thing and it isn’t like they are brewing the flagship stuff here.

I think that the Blonde is blended for the American market and has been a collaboration with American brewers. The ingredients are grown here. One advantage of brewing it here is that it can be advertised as fresh.

Moved to US forum

I was surprised at the number of different Guinness beers they serve there. I've only been twice so of course haven't tried them all, but it looked to me like they brewed a number of smaller batches just to serve on site. Nice place.