Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore County shutting down next month after eight years
by Brad Matthews · The Washington TimesAfter eight years in business, the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore County, Maryland, will be shutting down on Nov. 1.
In a social media post Thursday, the brewery said it had served over 2 million visitors during its time in operation and said “to everyone who walked through our gates, raised a glass, shared a meal, celebrated a milestone or simply made the brewery part of your life: thank you.”
Guinness parent company Diageo said in a statement that the closure comes after a “careful review of our operations and long-term business priorities,” according to WBAL-TV.
People were interested in these podcasts
A Diageo spokesperson told WBAL-TV that “we are deeply grateful to the Baltimore community, which welcomed us … This was not a decision we made lightly.”
Operating costs, changes in consumer demand and tastes and broader economic pressures made staying in business unsustainable, a source familiar with the decision told WMAR-TV.
At the time it opened, the Halethorpe, Maryland, facility was the first brewery opened by Guinness on U.S. soil since the 1950s, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Around 174 of the workers who will be laid off when the brewery closes its doors are employed by the site’s “hospitality partner” Aramark, which told Beer Street Journal that it is “working to identify opportunities in other areas of our organization where possible.”
A Diageo spokesperson told the Baltimore Banner that the Aramark workers make up the bulk of the layoffs but did not provide exact numbers for how many other people will be losing their jobs.
Advertisement Advertisement
The brewery’s impending closure comes three years after Diageo laid off around 100 workers at the site and shut down most commercial brewing operations, leaving the taproom, restaurant, beer garden and experimental brewery open, according to Beer Street Journal.
In 2025, Diageo then sold off 63 acres of land next to the brewery, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Local industry leaders are concerned the closure could be a harbinger of closures and difficulties for other breweries.
“This isn’t just a Guinness story. Breweries of every size are navigating the rising costs, changing consumer behavior and an increasingly difficult marketplace. I am very worried that we are going to hear of many more in the next 12 months, and these are ones who don’t have sources of a multinational corporation behind them,” Kelly Dudeck, president of the nonprofit trade group the Brewers Association of Maryland, told the Baltimore Banner.
Contact the author
Brad Matthews
Follow author updates Follow Click to follow. Manage followed authors