Diageo has announced the permanent closure of the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Halethorpe, Maryland, after more than eight years of operation. The destination will serve its final pints to the public on November 1, 2026, with remaining operations expected to wind down by the end of the year.
The decision followed what Diageo described as a careful review of its operations and long-term business priorities. Rising operating costs, changing consumer demand and broader economic pressures made the Baltimore operation increasingly difficult to sustain. Once Maryland closes, the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Chicago, which opened in September 2023, will remain the brand’s only brewery in the United States.
The Maryland operation opened on August 3, 2018, on Diageo’s historic Calvert Distillery property off Washington Boulevard. The site had previously housed the post-Prohibition Maryland Distilling Company, known for Lord Calvert Whisky, and later became part of Seagram’s operations. Diageo acquired the property in 2001 as part of its acquisition of Seagram assets. The completed brewery and visitor project represented an investment of approximately USD 90 million and was Guinness’s first full brewery operation in the United States since its New York brewery closed in 1954. Then-Governor Larry Hogan participated in the opening ceremony.
At the time of the opening, the brewery was described as part of a roughly 62-acre industrial campus. That figure no longer reflects the current operation. Following the closure of the large manufacturing brewery in 2023, Diageo sold most of the surrounding property in 2025, leaving the public-facing Open Gate brewery, its 10-barrel innovation system and associated facilities on a roughly 12-acre site.
The project also played an important role in reshaping Maryland’s brewery legislation. Before Guinness arrived, Class 5 breweries were generally limited to 500 barrels of annual on-premise beer sales. Legislation passed in 2017 increased the standard limit to 2,000 barrels and allowed qualifying breweries to sell up to another 1,000 barrels under specified conditions. In 2019, the Brewery Modernization Act raised the Class 5 on-premise limit to 5,000 barrels and eliminated the previous buyback requirement. The Brewers Association of Maryland was closely involved in negotiations surrounding the reforms.
The brewery ultimately welcomed more than two million visitors and produced more than 700 different beers. Its original large-scale production was centered on Guinness Blonde, later associated closely with Baltimore under the Baltimore Blonde name, while Guinness’s famous stout continued to be imported from Dublin. In 2023, Diageo closed the large production facility, eliminating roughly 100 jobs, but retained the smaller 10-barrel experimental brewery and hospitality operation.
The final closure will result in another substantial employment impact. Aramark, Diageo’s hospitality and facilities-management partner at the brewery, has notified the Maryland Department of Labor that 174 employees at the Halethorpe location will be affected as of November 1. Diageo has not publicly disclosed a precise number of its own employees affected by the shutdown.
Diageo also plans to establish a USD 250,000 community fund supporting Baltimore-area organizations, initiatives aimed at expanding economic opportunity and the regional hospitality industry.
