The first Guinness brewery to open in the US in more than 60 years, located in the Baltimore metro area, will shutter operations next month as shifting consumer demand and the challenges of operating in the Democrat-run state have made the operation increasingly difficult to sustain.
Diageo, the British alcoholic-beverages company that owns Guinness, operated the brewery for eight years, during which the site attracted more than 2 million visitors.
Local outlet WMAR-TV reported that the shutdown is due to soaring operating costs, shifting consumer tastes and broader economic pressures that made the brewing location unsustainable.
The decision followed a "careful review of our operations and long-term business priorities," a Diageo spokesperson said.
The shutdown comes three years after Diageo slashed the workforce at the Halethorpe site by 100 jobs and ended most commercial brewing at the plant. Its taproom, restaurant, beer garden and experimental brewery remained open.
This closure leaves Chicago as the brand's only US brewery and raises a difficult question about whether shifts in consumer demand for beer are only one part of the story.
The other part of the story is easy to understand: Maryland faces competitive pressure from neighboring states. Its negative net migration only suggests that the Democratic kings and queens who control the state under one-party rule are running its economy into
