Where To Find America's Only Guinness Breweries - Tasting Table

Guinness is associated with a dark ruby-red pint, creamy head, smooth roasted flavor, and the slow surge and settle of Guinness Draught. The brand traces its roots to 1759, when Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease for St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, which later expanded to about 50 countries. In the United States, Guinness has two Open Gate Brewery locations in the Baltimore and Chicago areas. These sites are designed around exploration and discovery, combining classic and modern styles and ingredients, and are run by American craft brewers. Guinness previously brewed in the U.S. at a Long Island City brewery from 1949 to 1954, but demand for darker stouts did not materialize then. The Baltimore location also functions as a visitor destination with an experimental brewery, taproom, food truck, beer garden, retail, and self-guided visits.

"For most folks, Guinness means one thing above all others: that unmistakably dark, ruby-red pint with a creamy head, smooth roasted flavor, and slow "surge and settle" that's part of the Guinness Draught experience. The brand's roots go back to 1759, when Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease for St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland, little knowing its beer would one day be brewed in about 50 other countries - one of which drinks more of the beer than its home country."

"Sadly, the Guinness brewery map is much smaller in the U.S., with only two breweries in the Baltimore, Maryland, and Chicago, Illinois, areas. They're known as the Open Gate Brewery locations, a nod to the longtime experimental Open Gate Brewery in Dublin. The American sister sites are likewise designed with what the company calls a "spirit of exploration and discovery," merging classic and modern styles and ingredients."

"Guinness tried brewing in the U.S. decades ago. They operated a brewery in Long Island City, New York, from 1949 until 1954, hoping that Americans who spent time in Europe during World War II would crave darker stouts. That didn't happen, at least back then. Today, the Baltimore and Chicago breweries walk on the wild side compared to what's considered traditional Guinness beers, and they're helmed by well-versed American craft brewers who have created a revolving door of beer programs."

"The Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Maryland sprawls along Washington Boulevard in Halethorpe, about 10 miles from downtown Baltimore. It sits on the former historic Calvert distillery property, the first to open after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. Under the Guinness banner, the space serves as both a production site and visitor destination, now hosting an experimental brewery, taproom, casual food truck, buzzy beer garden, and Guinness-gear retail. Visitors can take self-guided"

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