Save the Price of a Ticket to Dublin: Guinness Has Arrived in Maryland

Guinness Open Gate Brewery & Barrel House, Relay (or is it Halethorpe?) Now Open

Great news for beer drinkers near Baltimore!  Guinness has opened their one and only brewery in the New World.  They took an old distillery building complex and poured $90 million into it.  The result is a destination for the complete beer experience: taproom, outdoor event venue, gift shop, and soon, a restaurant.  Oh, and opportunities to tour the exhibit spaces focusing on the history of Guinness, and see the beermaking process.

We were invited to the press preview, a day before the public opening on August 3, and we accepted with alacrity.  There was a big crowd seated outside the building.  Not just press, but many folks instrumental to the process of bringing this project to reality, including local suppliers, politicians, bureaucrats, and fellow brewers.  Yes, Guinness has joined the Brewers Association of Maryland (BAM), a group of small, craft brewers.  Noblesse oblige?

The Famous Harp Symbol Comes to Baltimore

A Traditional Cooper Shows How It Used To Be Done

View From the Brewery Steps

The Signpost. Why Are All the Others (Except Dublin) in Africa?

It was very hot.  Still, the crowd was cheerful and attentive to the speechifying by everyone from Tom Day, the Chairman of Diageo (the parent company of Guinness) and Governor Hogan, down to the Ceremonial Firkin Tapping by the Guinness Maryland brewing team.

Gov. Hogan Presents Tom Day with a Proclamation

Toast: Politicians and Beer Executives

BAM’s President, Cindy Mullikin, Speaks

The Money Shot: The Ribbon Is Cut

Then we were released to experience the reason for the occasion – tasting the product.

One passes through the lobby, with the gift shop and a few artifacts on view (along with cheerful employees),

Cheerful New Employees with Old Still

You Can Buy Anything You Want with Guinness on It

and enters the taproom.  It’s filled with enthusiastic tipplers working their way through the 17 different pourables on offer.  And lunch.  Since the restaurant is not yet fully operational, some local purveyors were invited to provide their products.  They did us proud.

One Example of Pourable on Tap

The Lunch Spread

Oysters! All I Could Eat!

Dessert – Bonbons Infused with Guinness

Smile – And Pass the Finger Food

Our Plates

The Kitchen Crew of the Almost-Open Restaurant, which will Have Many Dishes Incorporating Guinness

As I have an unlimited appreciation for food, but not so much for beer, I expected to find the lunch more attractive than the alcohol.  I had to revise my opinions however, because, just as traditional Guinness Stout is not particularly hoppy, so many of the products offered followed that style.

I found the Belgian-style Apricot Pale Ale to be excellent, very fruit-forward and just barely hoppy.  Beer for people who don’t like beer, and I mean that in a good way, because I’m talking about myself.

My second-favorite was the White Ale, complex with herbs and citrus.  The tasting notes cite “grains of paradise, lemon peel and sweet and bitter orange peels…surprisingly low bitterness.”  Right in my wheelhouse.

I also enjoyed the Cherry Stout, and although I tasted less cherry than I had hoped for, it was still a good version of the iconic Guinness stout style.

Barry (the beer-lover in the family) enjoyed Crosslands Pale Ale, made with Maryland-grown malted barley and hops, which will be the signature brew of Maryland Guinness.  “Is there such a thing as terroir in a beer?” asks the description in the tasting sheet.  It goes on to answer itself, “yes.”  Time will tell.

The last thing to do was join one of the tours led by a cheerful guide with beer in hand.  Our group saw the historical artifacts from old Guinness brewing processes, and a display of advertising art over the years (including the iconic toucan and other animals in the “menagerie.”)

Tour, Accompanied by Beer

Toucans Suspended

But the Unisex Can Hold More Than His Bellycan

We learned about the plans for this site.  They expect 300,000 visitors a year.  It can only be good for this rather bleak corner of the south Baltimore area.  As the New Guinness Brewery website states, “Aside from making world-class, top quality beer and hosting curious visitors, a big aim of this project is to help develop and grow the local economy and enrich the local community.”  All the unfailingly cheerful employees I met that day, and all the visitors, would undoubtedly agree.