Baltimore - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com Central PA beer enthusiasts and beer bloggers. Homebrewers, brewery workers, and all around beer lovers. Wed, 05 Mar 2025 15:59:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://i0.wp.com/thebeerthrillers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cropped-The-Beer-Thrillers-December-2022-Logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Baltimore - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com 32 32 187558884 This Isn’t a Short Story (Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy Review) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2025/03/05/this-isnt-a-short-story-edgar-allen-poe-speakeasy-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=this-isnt-a-short-story-edgar-allen-poe-speakeasy-review Wed, 05 Mar 2025 15:59:46 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=15989 This Isn’t a Short Story

Tickets to the Harisburg Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy sounded like a perfect date night with the blog master. We really had no idea what to expect. I was just excited that the Harrisburg area was getting a pop-up experience.

The email confirmation advised us to “dress in your most ravishing cocktail party attire.” I worked all week and we have a 2 year old toddler, you’ll be lucky if I wear pants! But I decided on a nice sweater and some makeup should pass.

On the way to the speakeasy we reminisced about visiting the Edgar Allan Poe Museum on the Viginia Trip (refer VA stuff here) Then we compared the drinks listed on the website so what readings we thought they would be paired with. We guessed The Tell – Tale Heart and The Raven; two of the most famous Poe writings. It was hard to guess 2 more, maybe The Fall of the House of Usher and The Cask of Amontillado.

(See our Instagram Post about the Museum Here: The Beer Thrillers at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum – Instagram Post)

(See our Travelogue Article here: Visiting Richmond Virginia, Seeing the Sights, the Breweries, and the Edgar Allan Poe Museum)

A Review of The Edger Allan Poe Speakeasy

We arrived at the Civic Club of Harrisburg off Front Street. I knew parking would be a pain and I circled the block twice hoping to find some street parking. There were cars parked in spots that definitely were going to get ticketed as we saw a meter maid making their rounds. I saw a few folks parking in the small lot and unfortunately had to walk in a bit of mud to get into the mansion.

The setting of the Civic Club building, built in the early 1900s, added to the atmosphere setting up the evening. We waited in the downstairs area with a group of people. We then had our tickets scanned one at a time and ushered up a flight of stairs. One snaffoo, we had bought the 10pm showing tickets and not the 8pm that we showed up for. I was so embarrassed, mom brain was at it’s worst. The 2 cast members scanning tickets were so gracious and insisted they could still accommodate us.

As soon as your ticket was scanned you were handed your first drink on your way up the stairs. The Pale Blue Eye – A classic twist on a Traditional Collins. According to the menu on site is a “citrus and blueberry infused vodka, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and simple syrup. Topped with a pale blueberry eye.

Entering the Grand Ballroom on the second floor we are greeted by a stage and rows of chairs. I quickly felt like I was in entering a high school assembly and quickly took my seat as people kept entering behind us. I checked before we got here and all the tickets were sold out, so this showing had +2 as well because of our timing goof.

D’oh!

The Drinks

The Edger Allan Poe Speakeasy menu at the venue. (Photo courtesy of Jesse.)

 

The website and the drink menu at the location had 2 different descriptions for the drinks. That was fine since they were all great, but it was just a little confusing. Thankfully a friend took a pic of the menu at the location (see photo to the left of Jesse’s picture of the menu at the venue). The lemon drink with an “eye” in it (it was really an unripe blueberry floating around) really tasted like minute maid lemonade mix to me. When we entered the room it was light enough to see but the lights were a shade of purple.

 

After everyone was seated the lights turned red and the MC for the evening who did the introductions and the dialog between readings was young, vibrant and playful. She made some funny jokes and some around us were pre – gaming before this event. Which added to the lightheartedness of the evening. Overall providing a greater environment and theme to the proceedings.

 

There were lots of different interpretations on the attire recommendations. Some folks were playing the part of dressing for the occasion in some “old timey” looking outfits. One gentleman, who was sitting in front us wearing a bowler hat apologized immediately and assured us he wouldn’t be wearing it during the show. As the show started, he put on a beret hat.

 

(L: Pale Blue Eye, C: The stage built for the Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy actors, and R: the host and MC of the show)

 

After our playful MC introduced herself and set the “stage” for the evening the first actor came out onto the stage. The lights were red, and it created an ambiance about the room. The first reading was an abridged version of the Tell-tale heart. The actor has a sinister laugh about him and seemed to captivate the audience. I couldn’t help myself. I mean the tone of the room was still lighthearted, here to have fun type of crowd. I kept visualizing in my mind the Tell-tale heart episode of The Simpsons

We had our drinks finished before the end of the reading. It was then I was hoping for cocktail like tables in the room. I didn’t feel like sitting there in a seat, school assembly style, holding my drink. The first reading was over, and the actors went up and down the rows of seating with busboys trays and collected the cups. I was at the end of my row, so I was responsible for grabbing and passing everyone’s cups. This first round was easy.

(The Tall Tale Heart)

 

Shortly after another set of actors were going down the rows with large trays filled with the next drink. The name that was given was different than I remembered from the website. It wasn’t until after I saw my friend Jess post the drink menu did, I realize they were different.

(See Our Instagram post – The Beer Thrillers at the Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy – Instagram Post)

The following is the website and event’s pages menu items and showing of the drinks for the event.  You can find the website here: Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy Experience.

(Descriptions and pictures courtesy of the Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy Experience website.)

Jessica Blouch’s photos in a gallery:

The Show Goes On

They were handing out “The Cat’s Meow” – A twisted version of Poe’s favorite brandy milk punch. The menu describes it as “Aged bourbon meets with fruity brandy, accompanied by vanilla cinnamon milk, sweet cream and maple syrup.” This one was delicious.

Poe’s Twisted Milk Brandy Punch

We should have figured this one might be a reading. There were two black cats at the Poe Museum when we visited (in Richmond, Virginia – see our Instagram Post here) as well as many references in the museum about The Black cat.

(See our Instagram post: The Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, VA)
(See our Travelogue: Visiting Richmond Virginia, Seeing the Sights, the Breweries, and the Edgar Allan Poe Museum)

The friendly MC came out to introduce the next reading but without giving any hints away, I think we already knew it would be the black cat because of the drink’s name. The lights in the room changed to blue and a different actor came out and gave an abridged version. He also gave a great reading. He moved up and down the aisles, feeling a bit more interactive with the crowd.

We were finishing our drink, we both enjoyed it very much, as the reading was ending. Before I knew it I had all the empty cups and I was ready for the busboy tray to collect our used cups.

The next drink was the Nevermore -Quoth the Raven, Drink-some-more! It is described as Fresh lime juice, peach and orange blossom infused vodka, simple syrup, and crushed charcoal. Topped with a dehydrated lime. We knew this reading would happen. Our top 2 guesses were Tell-tale heart and The Raven.

Quoth the Raven Nevermore

The actress for this abridged version of the Raven was portrayed by our cocktail waitress. By this 3rd reading you are feeling like you are hanging out with a bunch of friends; you have just passed drinks back and collected empty cups and you are being entertained. Every single person took on multiple roles in the staffing of the Edgar Allan Poe speakeasy pop up were friendly, joyful and entertaining.

This reading was done before we were done with our drinks, and the busboy trays were coming down the aisle. Like I said about not wanting to be stuck holding my cup, I quickly downed what I had left of my drink. Not everyone in my row was as daring to swish it down and then you are stuck with cups under seats.

The next drink was Cocktail of Red Death – Our Spirited Nightcap is to Die For. It is described as Fresh squeezed seasonal fruits, raspberry infused vodka, cranberry juice, 100 proof vodka and fresh lime juice. This was tasty but I was unsure about the dried flower looking thing floating in it.

The Cocktail of Red Death

This masque of the red death happens to be one of our guesses. A different actor comes out onto the stage wearing a mask and you guessed it, the lights turned red. This actor did another excellent portrayal while wearing a large mask. The MC wrapped us up for the evening, encouraged tipping and escorted us out and down the stairs. Thank goodness you dropped off your empty cup on your way out the door and I didn’t have any other responsibilities for the evening.

The Red Mask

We ran into some friends outside, and we quickly departed as attendees of the last show of the evening were starting to pile in.

At first, I thought this would be a once and done type of experience but now that we are about a month out, I’d attend another Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy Pop Up.

 

  • Drink More Beer (….or cocktails at a Pop Up Speakeasy)
    • Amy

 

(Editor’s Notes: This article is long overdue to come out. Every time we tried to get it posted, things went awry. First, us getting terribly sick at the beginning of February, then life being busy with me getting a new job, Scarlet starting daycare, and then our trip to the Kennett Brewfest. But here it is, and yes, it is a large article, coming in at nearly 3000 words all told — I think with my editor’s note it will hit over 3000. We debated about splitting it up into two articles, but decided it was best just to leave it as is. We can always change it in the future if people think that would be best. I will add my two cents that we both really enjoyed the show. The readings were interesting, they were new and ‘updated’ versions of the stories, shortened and changed to fit more of our time than anything else. The drinks were good, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Milk Brandy Punch, especially because I don’t like milk. It was full and sold out for every showing, and we ran into several people we knew, like Gabe and his wife, Amy’s friend Jesse and their friends, and several others. Everyone seemed to have a good time coming out of the show and afterwards, as well as during it. They are touring and doing lots of shows. It was funny how it popped up on our Facebook feeds right as the time we suggested it to each other, so it made for a great date night and escape from work and stress. The night was dreary and rainy and fit the mood and vibe perfectly, and along the riverfront it added all to the atmosphere. If you are able to see them out, I would highly recommend it.)

Amy’s Column Series

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We are also now on BlueSky as well, so make sure to check us out there also. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #5 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2025.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

 

 

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DuClaw Brewing Adding Sweet Baby PB and J https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/10/16/duclaw-brewing-adding-sweet-baby-pb-and-j/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=duclaw-brewing-adding-sweet-baby-pb-and-j Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:34:17 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=12859 Move Over Sweet Baby Jesus… There’s Sweet Baby PB and J Coming Through

DuClaw Brewing – already well known for their Sweet Baby Jesus is now adding Sweet Baby PB and J to their lineup. One of the stand outs in the Eastern Coast region for Peanut Butter beers – Sweet Baby Jesus has been a beer go – to for many craft beer enthusiasts for years.

Now, DuClaw Brewing is adding an exciting comparable variant to that Sweet Baby Jesus: Sweet Baby PB and J.

Sweet Baby PB and J is a chocolate peanut butter raspberry porter. It will be hitting in at 6.2% ABV and will be sold in 12 oz cans and likely 12 oz bottles. They took their base of Sweet Baby Jesus and added the raspberry to make the Sweet Baby PB and J. Sweet Baby Jesus comes in at 6.2% ABV as well, and is also available in 12 oz cans and bottles throughout the DuClaw / River Horse distribution footprint.

River Horse Acquiring DuClaw Brewing

Just recently – June 1st 2023 – River Horse Brewing Acquired DuClaw Brewing. Hot on the heels of F.X. Matt / Saranac Brewing Acquiring Flying Dog Brewery – River Horse Brewing out of Ewing New Jersey announced they acquired the Baltimore brewery DuClaw Brewing. The acquisition by River Horse Brewing allows them to distribute more, and have multiple facilities to brew out of. DuClaw Brewing still brews out of Baltimore MD, and are distributed with the Ewing, NJ’s breweries distribution ability.

From our article:

What All Does This Entail

For the moment, it looks like not a whole lot for the consumer. It would appear that both River Horse Brewing Company and DuClaw Brewing Company beers will be appearing on shelves (with possibly greater distribution); on the production side of things, it looks like the two breweries will be using each other’s production facilities and brewhouses.

This should likely increase both brands distribution footprint. But no word on that, or guarantee of that yet. No word on the specifics of the deal yet either.

River Horse Brewing Company Acquires DuClaw Brewing Company

More Articles on DuClaw Brewing

If you are looking for more articles on DuClaw Brewing, check these out:

For More Information about DuClaw Brewing Company

The following comes from Untappd. DuClaw Brewing Company is a regional brewery from Baltimore, Maryland. They have 91 unique beers with over 1.2 Million ratings. They have a global average rating of 3.69 (as of 10.16.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Maryland Brewery established in 1996. Brewing and drinking what we like. Trying not to take ourselves too seriously. Craft be cherished, rules be damned.”

You can find them on the following social media platforms:

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

 

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Heavy Seas Brewing is Releasing Altimore Ale Brewed with Monocacy Hops https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/10/10/heavy-seas-brewing-is-releasing-altimore-ale-brewed-with-monocacy-hops/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heavy-seas-brewing-is-releasing-altimore-ale-brewed-with-monocacy-hops Tue, 10 Oct 2023 14:17:49 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=12758 Altimore Ale

Heavy Seas Brewing Company is releasing Altimore Ale – an Altbier that will be using the Maryland own varietal hop – Monocacy. This is a unique varietal hop that is Maryland own and was discovered in the 1960s by Dr. Ray Edgar.

From Heavy Seas press release:

 

A Genetically Unique Hop: Discovered in the late 1960s by Dr. Ray Edigar, the Monocacy hop remained a hidden gem until recently. Unaware of its rarity and Maryland origin, Dr. Edigar grew the hop in his garden for years. He recently partnered with researchers at the University of Maryland Extension to test the plant’s DNA-sequence, and when the results came back, they learned that the hop was completely genetically unique and native to Maryland. The Monocacy hop is distinguished by its distinct chemical profile & adaptability to Maryland’s hot, humid climate.

Heavy Seas Brewing Company

The target date for the beer’s release will be October 20th (2023) at the Heavy Seas Taproom. It will be available on draft, and to go in the form of crowlers and growlers. Heavy Seas Brewing Company is hoping to release more Monocacy hop beers in 2024.

Monocacy Hops

(See our article here on Monocacy Hops.)

Monocacy Hops Growing on the Vine

The Monocacy Hop varietal has been growing in the Maryland and DC Area since the 1960s; originally on a farm by a retired veterinarian – who claimed he liked to grow them for the shade they provided.

The hop varietal is genetically distinct from wild hops – neomexicanus and other wild hop variants. It is also the only native and organic to Maryland grown hop that has achieved unique genetic distinction.

Typically most American grown hops come from the Yakima Valley area of Washington State; despite there being numerous other hop farms across the country – this is the most widely distributed and the ‘best growing’ region of the country.

 

The Monocacy hop offers spicy, herbaceous, floral aromatics. For our inaugural brew, we chose to craft an Altbier, a traditional German beer style, using whole-flower Monocacy hops for bittering and finishing, which should provide a really nice aroma to this beer.

Chris Leonard – Heavy Seas Brewmaster and Director of Operations

Last winter the first commercial batches of beer, about forty pounds of pelletized dried Monocacy hops harvested in the fall of 2022 from a rebuilt UMD hop yard, made their way to Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm where that same brewer, Tom Barse, owner of Milkhouse, made three beers with Monocacy: a light lager, a Vienna-style lager, and a pale ale. These were released in the on-site taproom as part of the annual “FeBREWary – Maryland Craft Beer Lovers Month” that is perhaps best known in DC for the Love Thy Beer festival in Silver Spring.

Monocacy, Maryland’s Hop At Heavy Seas Brewing

Brewing with Monocacy Hops

On September 21st 2023, Heavy Seas Beer visited the Western Maryland Research & Education Center, where the Maryland-native hop is currently growing, to witness the harvesting of the Monocacy hop. They then hand collected and hand-picked wet hops directly from the vine. Immediately after the harvest, the Heavy Seas Brewing team returned to Halethorpe to brew a batch of beer using this hop. This is referred to as “Fresh Hop Brewing” or “Wet Hopping” for brewing IPAs.

Release

The target date for the beer’s release will be October 20th (2023) at the Heavy Seas Taproom. It will be available on draft, and to go in the form of crowlers and growlers. Heavy Seas Brewing Company is hoping to release more Monocacy hop beers in 2024.

Heavy Seas Brewing

The following information comes from Untappd. Heavy Seas Brewing or Heavy Seas Beer is a regional brewery from Baltimore / Halethorpe, MD. They have 883 unique beers and over 1 Million ratings, with a global average rating of 3.66 (as of 10.10.23). Their Untappd description reads: Heavy Seas Beer began in 1995 and has grown to become one of the most respected and award winning craft breweries on the east coast. Captaining the helm is our founder Hugh Sisson with decades of experience in developing, producing and marketing fine beers. As the first pub brewer in Maryland, Hugh was responsible for the legislation that made brewpubs legal in the state. Fearless. Bold. Independent.

You can find them on the following social media:

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Guinness Baltimore Blonde Beer Production Moving to New York https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/06/14/guinness-baltimore-blonde-beer-production-moving-to-new-york/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=guinness-baltimore-blonde-beer-production-moving-to-new-york Wed, 14 Jun 2023 12:39:26 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=11751
Guinness Baltimore Open Gate Brewery

Guinness Baltimore is Closing and Moving the Baltimore Blonde Production to New York

Its been no secret now that the Guinness Brewery in Baltimore (Guinness Baltimore Open Gate Brewery) is closing down. There was talks of trying to keep the Baltimore Blonde beer production still in Baltimore, but looks like that won’t be happening. The Baltimore Blonde will now be produced in New York.

Diageo, the beverage company that owns Guinness, one of the beer market’s most recognizable names and one of the top twenty producers world wide, announced in April that it would shut down its beer production plant in Relay this month. The plant, which closed Friday (June 9th), is on the site of Guinness Open Gate Brewery, where a taproom, a 270 – seat restaurant and a smaller innovation brewery — all of which employ about 100 people — will remain open.

F.X. Matt Brewing Company (Saranac Brewing) which recently acquired Flying Dog Brewery will be producing Baltimore Blonde in New York.

This will add to their already increased production level. The acquisition of Flying Dog Brewery will most likely see them be put into the top ten of beer production for next year, and adding Baltimore Blonde will only mean more of an increased in beer production.

F.X. Matt Brewing Lands Baltimore Blonde

Baltimore Blonde (beer can as of time of production at the Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore)

Diageo, which also owns such liquor brands as Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Baileys and Smirnoff, said Wednesday that it selected FX Matt Brewing Co. in New York as its new supplier of Baltimore Blonde, with production to start in October. Diageo invited four brewers to submit proposals, including one in Maryland that the company did not identify. Only one brewer, FX Matt, submitted a bid and that proposal met Diageo’s needs.

Diageo invited four brewers to submit their proposals, including one in Maryland. Only one brewer submitted a bid: FX Matt Brewing Company, whose response aligned with the company’s business needs.

Guinness Baltimore Blonde beer production leaving Maryland for New York (PennLive)

F.X. Matt Brewing Company, known for its Saranac beer line and its Utica Club lager, which it claims was the first beer sold after Prohibition ended in 1933, said last month that it is acquiring Flying Dog Brewery (Flying Dog Brewery is based out of Frederick Maryland), and taking over Flying Dog beer production by August.

The Flying Dog Brewery announcement came amid continuing consolidation in the industry. This was also after the Cape May Brewing Company and Flying Fish Brewery merger – which has since been cancelled. Just over a week ago, Baltimore-based DuClaw Brewing Co. was acquired by River Horse Brewing Co. (based out of Ewing, New Jersey), becoming the latest Maryland craft brewery to be acquired by an out – of – state brewery.

There is certainly been a trend of consolidation, acquisitions, mergers, and closings. The craft beer “bubble” might not be bursting, but its certainly contracting.

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.

A spokesperson for Diageo Beer

Diageo already has the market and distribution taken care of, as well as the production facility in Baltimore. They have stated that distribution should hold until the new production begins in New York and that the supply chain won’t break down and distributors won’t be lacking. They are also preparing for the closing of the production plant, announcing that up towards 97 employees will be laid off as their jobs become unneeded.

The Guinness Open Gate Brewery will remain open and will continue to brew a variety of experimental beers on their 10 – barrel innovation brewery on the ground floor of the visitor center.

The facility’s innovation brewing and hospitality operations are not changing in any capacity — we are open and continue to welcome visitors to our taproom.

A Diageo Spokesperson

The Relay plant had been Guinness’ first brewing operation in the United States since the 1950s. The facility on site of a former Seagram’s bottling plant was hailed as a key economic engine for the area.

Diageo opened Guinness Open Gate in August 2018, a $90 million project on a 62-acre property it had acquired in 2001 as part of its purchase of Seagram. Until 2015, Diageo had used the longtime manufacturing plant for bottling and aging Captain Morgan rum products.

The property previously had been home to Maryland Distilling Co. after Prohibition, then was used to produce several brands over the decades, including Lord Calvert Whisky.

Guinness Baltimore Blonde beer production leaving Maryland for New York (PennLive) [Lorraine Mirabella of the baltimoresun.com wrote this story. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.]

Guinness Brewing is Shutting Down Halethorpe Maryland’s Production Facility

(The following comes from our previous article here – Guinness Brewing is Shutting Down Halethorpe Maryland’s Production Facility).

Guinness owner Diageo will be closing the Guinness production facility in Halethorpe, Maryland. They opened the facility just three years ago in 2020.

The closure will not impact the Guinness Open Gate Brewery tap room and restaurant, also in Halethorpe. It will continue brewing beers to serve at the tap room in its. They are maintaining their 10-barrel innovation brewery on the ground floor of the visitor center that they use for ‘experimental ales’.

This all coming after announcements of Guinness Brewing opening a Chicago facility and brewery. (Read more here: Guinness Brewing Planning on Opening a Chicago Brewery.)

The closing of the facility in Baltimore will result in around 100 employee lay – offs. Diageo stated the reasoning for the closure is that the Halethorpe / Baltimore facility is “underutilized and unnecessary”.

……

For many in Baltimore this comes as… not so shocking news. Stating the tap room’s decline in quality, issues with staffing, slow wait times, and differences in ordering and receiving drinks due to COVID – 19 protocols.

Guinness Brewing is Closing Their Maryland Production Facility (The Beer Thrillers)

Acquisitions, Consolidations, Closings, Mergers and More

In recent months (weeks really) there has been considerable news in the craft beer industry about how its consolidating and constricting. No one is quite willing to say the bubble is bursting yet, but that it is definitely contracting in on itself.

In recent weeks, here along the East Coast, there’s been quite the shake up in mergers and acquisitions and such. First with Cape May Acquiring Flying Fish Brewery – which they then later cancelled.

Then, in a very big announcement F.X. Matt Brewing (Saranac Brewing) announced that they had acquired Flying Dog Brewery. This combined the 14th (F.X. Matt Brewing) and the 34th (Flying Dog Brewery) craft breweries of 2022 into one organization. (See: Top 50 Craft Breweries.) Flying Dog Brewery is based out of Frederick, Maryland.

Next up was River Horse Brewing acquiring DuClaw Brewing Company. River Horse Brewing is out of Ewing New Jersey, and DuClaw Brewing is out of the Baltimore / greater Maryland area.

And of course, this is all after the announcement of the Guinness Baltimore Brewery closing.

So its certainly been a time of consolidation and constriction, especially for the Maryland area breweries. But, yet, still some breweries are expanding. Black Flag is opening a second location in the Frederick area, and Cushwa Brewing is expanding as well – into the Columbia Maryland area.

So there is hope that the craft beer community is still growing, but I do fear it is certainly tightening and that things might be a bit rougher for a while before they get better.

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

-B. Kline

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

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River Horse Brewing Company Acquires DuClaw Brewing Company https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/06/01/river-horse-brewing-company-acquires-duclaw-brewing-company/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=river-horse-brewing-company-acquires-duclaw-brewing-company Thu, 01 Jun 2023 20:15:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=11583 River Horse Brewing Company has Acquired DuClaw Brewing Company

River Horse Brewing Company, out of Ewing New Jersey, has just announced that they have acquired DuClaw Brewing Company (from Baltimore, Maryland).

This comes soon after the news of F.X. Matt Brewing Company (Saranac Brewing) acquiring Flying Dog Brewery. (Click that link to read more.)

The press release, announced on the social media platforms for both companies was the same, and reads as follows:

Attention NJ & MD craft beer lovers- we have an announcement!

New Jersey’s River Horse Brewing Company, in Ewing, NJ has acquired DuClaw Brewing Company of Baltimore, MD. The powerful combination of two beloved brands that each boast a legacy of over 25 years of great beer will ensure the continued success of these products.

While each brand will be managed separately, the efficiencies created by combining facilities and sharing production capacity and certain distribution partnerships will strengthen both entities. Dave Benfield, Founder of DuClaw will continue to be the driving force behind the strategy, portfolio, product innovation and vibe of DuClaw and will ensure the continuity of the highest quality beer. River Horse will be expanding capacity in its Ewing, NJ facility in order to meet the demands of DuClaw’s national distribution footprint. Stay tuned to some new innovative product releases to supplement the amazing DuClaw lineup.

“From the first day that we sat down with Dave to discuss a possible combination, we knew that this would be a wonderful partnership.” Says River Horse’s Chris Walsh. “Dave is one of the most innovative minds in brewing and is always ahead of the curve in his flavor profile formulations.” Dave is thrilled to transition the production responsibilities to the team in Ewing, NJ so he can give 100% of his attention to the part of the business that he truly loves, products, strategy and sales. “The operations side of brewing is challenging, and at the end of the day I was spending too much of my time and energy chasing the latest mechanical, supply or logistical issue, and was taken away from driving the brand the way I wanted.” Says Benfield. “This partnership will allow me to focus on what I am best at.”

Don’t expect to see too many changes though, you should be able to get your favorite River Horse and DuClaw beers at your local store and taverns without interruption.

River Horse is currently seeking new team members. Anyone interested in becoming part of the brewing, packaging or cellaring team should send a resume to jobs@riverhorse.com

@duclawbrewingco

River Horse Brewing Company – Facebook Post

What All Does This Entail

For the moment, it looks like not a whole lot for the consumer. It would appear that both River Horse Brewing Company and DuClaw Brewing Company beers will be appearing on shelves (with possibly greater distribution); on the production side of things, it looks like the two breweries will be using each other’s production facilities and brewhouses.

This should likely increase both brands distribution footprint. But no word on that, or guarantee of that yet. No word on the specifics of the deal yet either.

Reception of the News

The news broke first to a few journalists, then to the public at large. The reception was ‘interesting’ in the Maryland and southern (going to Asheville NC) region. One (anonymous) brewer said “this should have happened 20 years ago”, and another (anonymous) brewer said “I feel bad for River Horse for getting attached to the shitty DuClaw organization”. (Both comments were said on Facebook, but I have chosen to keep the brewers names anonymous.)

For More Information about DuClaw Brewing Company

The following comes from Untappd. DuClaw Brewing Company is a regional brewery from Baltimore, Maryland. They have 81 unique beers with over 1.2 Million ratings. They have a global average rating of 3.69 (as of 6.1.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Maryland Brewery established in 1996. Brewing and drinking what we like. Trying not to take ourselves too seriously. Craft be cherished, rules be damned.”

You can find them on the following social media platforms:

For More Information About River Horse Brewing Company

The following information comes from Untappd. They are a micro brewery from Ewing New Jersey, with a total of 346 unique beers and over 240,000 ratings. They have a global average rating of 3.64 (as of 6.1.23).

You can follow them on these social media platforms:

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

Thank You For Reading

Thank you everyone for reading. It seems like the craft beer world is shrinking a bit. More acquisitions, more closings, seem to be happening by the day. Such a shame, but we are kind of at a bad spot economically, and the craft beer bubble was “due to burst” at some point.

 

Hopefully the trend stops, and we get some stability. Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow Drew and I leave for Atlantic City for the AC Beer and Music Fest. We are also running the 5K on Sunday. God help us.

Thanks for reading everyone, and we’ll keep you updated on any news we get.

Cheers.

-B. Kline

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Guinness Brewing is Closing Their Maryland Production Facility https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/04/05/guinness-brewing-is-closing-their-maryland-production-facility/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=guinness-brewing-is-closing-their-maryland-production-facility Wed, 05 Apr 2023 14:15:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=10988
Guinness Baltimore Open Gate Brewery

Guinness Brewing is Shutting Down Halethorpe Maryland’s Production Facility

Guinness owner Diageo will be closing the Guinness production facility in Halethorpe, Maryland. They opened the facility just three years ago in 2020.

The closure will not impact the Guinness Open Gate Brewery tap room and restaurant, also in Halethorpe. It will continue brewing beers to serve at the tap room in its. They are maintaining their 10-barrel innovation brewery on the ground floor of the visitor center that they use for ‘experimental ales’.

This all coming after announcements of Guinness Brewing opening a Chicago facility and brewery. (Read more here: Guinness Brewing Planning on Opening a Chicago Brewery.)

The closing of the facility in Baltimore will result in around 100 employee lay – offs. Diageo stated the reasoning for the closure is that the Halethorpe / Baltimore facility is “underutilized and unnecessary”.

“This decision will not impact our hospitality operations at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery taproom and restaurant. We have been part of the Baltimore community for many years and will continue to be active member through our work at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery, contributing to local tourism and the economy, and supporting local charitable organizations.”

Diageo About the Closing

The Production Facility’s Closing

Guinness Brewing in Baltimore at Night

The company said the closure will not impact its popular Guinness Open Gate Brewery taproom and restaurant also located in Halethorpe.  

The London based parent company, Diageo, released a statement on the closure. “After careful consideration and analysis of our supply footprint, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close our manufacturing facility in Relay, Maryland,”  Diageo said.  

Customers who frequent the company’s taproom and restaurant in Baltimore have not to worry, as Diageo says the closure of the manufacturing plant will not impact operations at the Open Gate Brewery.  

Owner of Guinness Open Gate Brewery closing manufacturing facility in Baltimore County

For many in Baltimore this comes as… not so shocking news. Stating the tap room’s decline in quality, issues with staffing, slow wait times, and differences in ordering and receiving drinks due to COVID – 19 protocols.

A taproom, a 270-seat restaurant and a smaller innovation brewery, which employ about 100 people, will remain open, according to a statement from Diageo, the beverage company that owns Guinness, one of the beer market’s most recognizable names, and liquor brands such as Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Baileys and Smirnoff.

The Relay plant was Guinness’ first brewing operation in the United States since the 1950s. The facility on the site of a former Seagram’s bottling plant was hailed as a key economic engine for the area, opening five years ago with the taproom and restaurant. The taproom has served more than 1.3 million visitors since opening, the company said.

The manufacturing plant is expected to close by June, the company said. After that, the brewery’s flagship Baltimore Blonde will be brewed at other locations. A company spokeswoman said Diageo is evaluating options to continue production of the beer.

Guinness beer brewing plant will shut down at site of Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore County

Baltimore Blonde

The biggest questions (and concerns) about the closure is what will become of the Baltimore Blonde Ale that Guinness has been making since opening the facility.

(Some online have been joking that it will become the Chicago Blonde Ale.)

Left in doubt is the future of Baltimore Blonde, the lager whose logo includes a Maryland flag, that Guinness began brewing in Relay in 2017 and has since become a popular offering everywhere from Camden Yards to local stores. It was originally called Guinness Blonde American Lager before the name was switched to represent Charm City.

Baltimore County officials say they want to keep the brew’s production local, and have reached out to area breweries to see if there’s a way to have them take it over.

The goal is to keep Baltimore Blonde from going the way of Natty Boh, which has long been symbolic of the region despite being manufactured elsewhere since the 1990s. “We’d hate for that to be the situation here,” said Sameer Sidh, deputy administrative officer of economic development and infrastructure for Baltimore County. “We’re exploring all options to keep Baltimore Blonde here. We’re going to turn over every stone that we can to keep Baltimore Blonde in Baltimore County.”

As Guinness manufacturing plant closes, officials scramble to keep Baltimore Blonde local

Guinness Brewing hasn’t declared a word yet on the eventual fate of the Guinness Baltimore Blonde Ale.

The closure is due to happen in June, so an answer should be provided by then.

For More News on the Closure

For more news on the closure from news outlets, you can read the following news articles:

Guinness Baltimore

The following information comes from Untappd. Guinness Open Gate Brewery is a macro brewery and a Subsidiary of Guinness, in Halethorpe, MD United States. They have 319 unique beers and over 174,000 ratings with a global average rating of 3.73 (as of 4.5.23). Their Untappd description reads: “The first Guinness brewery on American soil for over 60 years, the Guinness Open Gate Brewery is the home of Guinness Blonde Lager and the birthplace of new Guinness beers. Proudly brewing in Maryland.” Untappd – Guinness Open Gate Brewery.

You can follow them on their social media pages here:

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

Thanks For Reading

This makes several recent closing articles on the blog (even if some are ‘temporary’). Do I think the craft beer market bubble is about to burst? No. But I do think 2023 is going to be a rougher year for many breweries, and we’ll see who all will stand the test of time.

It is a very competitive market, with lots of great breweries making lots of great beer, as well as good food, and fun environments. So its taking more and more for breweries to stand out, and with the economy, consumers have less and less money as well.

There’s a lot of interesting forces at play right now affecting the craft beer market. I don’t think its all gloom and doom however.

hank you for everyone who read the article and made it to our blog. We pride ourselves on writing good content and to helping people learn about craft beer, breweries, non-alcoholic craft beer, and all things brewing related.

If you enjoyed this article please like, subscribe, and follow us. Share the content if you find it relevant and want to show it off. Leave a comment if you have any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, or anything to say. We love hearing from our readers. Let us know what your favorite non-alcoholic beers are in the comments!

Currently right now we are in the Finals of our Battle of the Breweries (2023). You can check out the final four breweries left in the Finals Fatal Four Way here and vote:

In the upcoming two weeks I am going to do a more thorough look at the full tournament, breaking down the votes and how well each conference winner did. I will also do a full write up on each of the breweries in the Finals Fatal Four Way too, where I will list what articles we’ve done about them, and my visits to each of those places.

We are currently starting to work on creating maps of all the breweries in each state, starting geographically with Maine. So be on the lookout for these great resources to soon be popping up on the blog. Hoping to get a state done every 2 – 4 days. (Some will be quicker and easier than others, but 50 states, plus Washington D.C., will certainly take some time!)

I am nearly complete with the Maine map, that might get done Thursday (4.6.23) or Friday (4.7.23). Fingers crossed.

Thank you everyone for reading and please like, share, follow, subscribe, all that good stuff you see at the end of every YouTube video.

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer ReviewsHike ReviewsBook ReviewsBrewery News, Brewery OpeningsBrewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – FacebookFacebook GroupTwitterInstagramYouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

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Beer Review: Esmeralda (Ministry of Brewing) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/08/20/beer-review-esmeralda-ministry-of-brewing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-esmeralda-ministry-of-brewing Fri, 21 Aug 2020 01:32:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=4218
Esmeralda by Ministry of Brewing

This was originally posted to Let Us Drink Beer, a blog I (B. Kline) guest write for (about once a month). You can view the original article here: Let Us Drink Beer Blog: Beer Review: Esmeralda (Ministry of Brewing). I highly recommend checking out their blog. They are Georgia and Atlanta based and have a lot of great articles, especially if you are visiting that area of the country.

Onto the review:

Hello everyone, its me, B. Kline, from The Beer Thrillers back with another post (my usually monthly post). I took my daughter to the Baltimore Aquarium and we stopped at the Ministry of Brewing in Baltimore. A gorgeous former Cathedral turned brewery, that I had been seeing stuff about on Facebook and really wanted to check out. So I was originally going to do my brewery review for my post… but, felt it would be a bit too negative to do as a guest blog spot, so I’m doing a review of one of their beers instead. I did do a review of the brewery for my blog, which you can check out here: Brewery Review: Ministry of Brewing. Spoiler: I didn’t hate the place or the beer; just the service. But, please check out the review either way, after you’re done checking out the beer review here.

But let’s not dwell on the negatives and instead talk about the positives, like this delicious beer. So that’s why I decided to use this for my monthly guest blog spot on Let Us Drink Beer.

Beer: Esmeralda
Brewery: Ministry of Brewing
Style: Sour – Berliner Weisse
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Refreshingly tart wheat ale.

They had a few variants of this through the usage of syrups; typical for Berliner Weisse’s. Some breweries will have the plain tap, and then add a cherry, or raspberry, or strawberry syrup to give it a different, more fruity flavor. I had just the original plain.

Appearance is exactly what you expect and what you are looking for in a berliner weisse. Wheat looking, ‘beer looking’ golden hued yellowish beer. A nice white thin lined foam to the head, so you know its well carbonated. Its got a good crisp, clean look that you want in a nice cold refreshing beer.

Aroma is a nice, ‘tart’ ‘funky’ smell. Pretty much once again spot-on or right on target for what berliner weisse’s and other similar style (farmhouse ales, saisons, etc.) should be. It has that distinct ‘sour’ smell, with the notes of wheat, hint of spices, and just a nice smell. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unpleasant, nothing wrong.

Flavor is refreshing, tart, crisp, relaxed, and not too ‘lethal’ at 5%. They are definitely not lying, this is a refreshing, tart wheat ale. It’s not crazy puckering tart, but there is a nice, clean, crisp, refreshing, tartness to this that provides a nice flavor. Would be interesting to try this with the different syrups to see how much change there is and how much flavor those various syrups add to it. 5% is a great middle-road ABV that lets you enjoy several of these without it becoming overwhelming or too much; that refreshing area where you can have a few and still drive home safely, enjoying them out in the sun at a picnic or baseball game. I believe they had a cherry, strawberry, lime, and blue raspberry for their flavors (though I might be misremembering). I would be interested in trying the lime and blue raspberry (not a huge fan of cherry or strawberry).

I wanted to try several other beers from them, or at least one more, while there, and take another home with a growler, but unfortunately due to them not paying me attention even after being there over an hour, and having strict rules (due to COVID) about getting up, I wasn’t able to get anymore. But… I did really enjoy this beer. Hopefully their other beers are just as good. Maybe some day I’ll get back down to Baltimore and try them out.

As for this, Esmeralda is completely on point, hitting all of its marks. Nothing completely amazing, but does exactly what you want the beer to do, and thats far more than can be said about a lot of beers.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.62 (as of 8.20.20)

Please check out my full review of The Ministry of Brewing. And as always everyone, thanks for reading, and you can check out my blog – The Beer Thrillers – where Let Us Drink Beer also guest blogs and posts. So be sure to give us both some reads and shares and likes and follows, etc. We greatly appreciate it!

Cheers!

-The Beer Thrillers
-B. Kline

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