Truth in Labeling? Guinness Baltimore Blonde to Be Brewed in New York

In a couple of months, a consumer who buys Guinness Baltimore Blonde beer will be buying a product brewed in New York, not in Maryland, much less in Baltimore, Diageo announced.

Guinness Baltimore Blonde has been produced at the Guiness Open Gate Brewery in Halethorp, just outside of Baltimore.  Dageo announced in April it was closing its production facility there, although the Open Gate Brewery, which include a 10-gallon experimental production facility, will remain open.  The Open Gate Brewery is primarily a tourist attraction.

In a statement, Diageo said: "After conducting a due diligence process, which also considered options to keep production of Baltimore Blonde in the state, the supplier that best met the business case and production timeline was FX Matt Brewing Company in New York.

Actually, the Baltimore Sun reported, FX Matt was the only one of four brewers invited to submit a proposal.  And only one of the four was in Maryland.

"Our Guinness Open Gate Brewery will continue to be a destination in the Baltimore area brewing a variety of experimental beers in the 10-barrel innovation brewery on the ground floor of the visitor center. The Guinness Open Gate Brewery's innovation brewing and hospitality operations are not changing in any capacity -- we are open and continue to welcome visitors to our taproom."

The Guinness announcement is just the latest in a series of breweries fleeing Maryland.  A few weeks ago, Flying Dog Brewery was sold to FX Matt, and will close its Frederick, Md., location. Within the last two weeks, DuClaw Brewing Co. was bought by River Horse Brewing Co. DuClaw has been based in Baltimore; River Horse is a Ewing, N.J., brewer.  Ewing is a suburb of Trenton.