USA, MD: Guinness gains license for its Baltimore County brewery

A year away from its opening, the Baltimore County liquor board has granted a license to the Guinness Open Gate Brewery & Barrel House, Baltimore Business Journal reported on August 16.

The plans for the new brewery— the first by Guinness in the U.S. in more than six decades — were unveiled in January. Details are still being finalized and local contractor Plano-Coudon was hired in the late spring by Diageo Beer Co. USA to build the brewery to be located in Relay. The $50 million Guinness project is expected to bring in 300,000 visitors each year to the county's southwest corner.

This week, the Board of Liquor License Commissioners for Baltimore County unanimously approved an on-premise consumption permit for the new taproom. The development is expected to create 70 new jobs.

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said the license "is a key next step in creating a world-class tourist destination" and investment in the county.

The permit granted was a new "Class 5" license, modified during legislation that moved through the General Assembly earlier this year that would allow breweries in the state additional capacity to sell beer that is brewed on-site at their taprooms.

“We are excited to open up our brewery next year to visitors and be a part of something that will help strengthen Maryland tourism, the local brewing community and boost economic growth,” said Dwayne Kratt, a Diageo’s director of government relations, in a statement.

The new brewery will be retrofitted into the Calvert Distillery, the former Seagram building, owned by Diageo, located at 5001 Washington Blvd. There, the company will brew Guinness Blonde, an American lager that is lighter than the company's legendary dark stout that is brewed in Dublin at the headquarters.

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