Where To Find Guinness Breweries In America
The original Guinness brewery is based in Dublin, Ireland, which means you'd have to go overseas in order to get a proper pint straight from the source. However, the company known for its velvety stout with cloud-like head has two breweries in the U.S. where you can also get the original Guinness brew on tap. (Side note: I've been to the Dublin location, and as far as I can tell, the Guinness there doesn't taste noticeably different than what you can get on draft at Irish pubs here, despite what people say.)
The American locations are called the Guinness Open Gate Breweries, and there's one in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Not only do the breweries serve Guinness products like the original stout (4.2% ABV), Extra Stout (5.6% ABV), and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (7.5% ABV), plus its non-alcoholic version, but they also both serve an Irish-inspired bar food menu as well.
Historically, Chicago has had a large Irish population, making it a particularly sensible location for a Guinness brewery. Irish pubs are certainly a fixture around the city and have definitely influenced our drinking culture; it seems like Guinness noticed this while choosing U.S. locations.
Guinness does not brew its stout in its U.S. breweries
Even though Guinness has built out these two stateside breweries, the company isn't making its stout on U.S. soil. Instead, it's opting to focus on beer that's considered experimental for the brand. Both locations feature a rotating tap list of different types of beer. At the time of this writing, Baltimore's Guinness Open Gate Brewery has beer like blonde ale, some India pale ales, and a few different types of stout available. Chicago's tap list includes multiple German styles, a few lagers, and some ales as well.
Baltimore's location, unlike Chicago's, is also designed to be a full experience, featuring guided tours of its giant 62-acre site and special tastings. It's even decked out with a gift shop, in case you want to haul off some branded swag. And, hopefully, there are a few bartenders at each location who can teach you how to draw designs on top of your beer, too, which is an art form in and of itself.