It's been brewed in Ireland for centuries, and come this fall, it could be brewed in the Maryland. Guinness beer's parent company has big plans for a site in Baltimore County.
The company, Diageo, closed bottling operations at the Calvert Distillery in southwest Baltimore County in 2015. New plans call for the opening of two new Guinness breweries, combined with a tap room for tourists.
At the James Joyce Pub in Baltimore, the kegs of Guinness never run dry. Managers say the pub is the top seller of the Irish brew in the state, and news of a nearby brewery and packing site is welcome.
"It's fantastic new to me," said manager Owen Gallagher. "I'm very excited myself.
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The site is located near BWI Airport in Relay, Maryland.
"They want to do a brewery-taphouse," said Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. "It's very similar to what they're doing in their brewery in Dublin, Ireland."
Plans call for both a mid-sized Guinness brewery and a micro-brewery where visitors will tour, sample beers and purchase merchandise. The new project is expected to generate about 70 jobs and millions in investment dollars.
Beers made will be distributed for sale across the county for the first time in more than 60 years.
"We kind of pitched them and we said it's got a great location right on the beltway," said Kamenetz.
The project will not come without legislative hurdles. The state's liquor laws must be changed to allow the company to sell larger capacities of beer.
At the James Joyce Pub, optimism was difficult to hide.
"The sooner they open it, the better. That'll be the next thing," said Gallagher.
Diageo expects construction to be started by the spring with an opening for the fall to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Guinness first being imported into the U.S.
