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When I spoke to the Maryland brewery’s head brewery, Hollie Stephenson, in my former gig at a beer magazine, she told me she has her sights set on IPAs: “I’m particularly excited about seeing some IPAs come out of here. That’s a style that I learned a lot about when I was out west and had some success with at Highland [Brewing Company], so I’m looking forward to seeing how I can do that in a way that you know is Guinness.”

Different breweries can make beer on different-sized brewing systems. (Think of it like a chef choosing between a small pot and a giant soup cauldron.) The Open Gate Brewery & Barrel House has a pair of systems. The largest is a huge, 100-hectoliter production brewery where brewers will primarily make Blonde American Lager to be shipped across the U.S. The second is a 10-barrel experimental brewery, about the size system that your small neighborhood brewpub would have. That’s where brewers can play around with smaller batches to be served in the taproom. That small system will allow the Guinness brewers to try out new recipes without having to commit to a massive, 100-hectoliter batch.

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Third and most intriguing to me, the Maryland location’s barrel-aging program should be impressive. Guinness is touting the site of the new brewery which was once home to the Maryland Distilling Company. But it’s a present-day connection that has me most intrigued for the new brewery’s barrel-aging program: Guinness is owned by global spirits giant Diageo, maker of brands like Johnnie Walker, Bulleit, Crown Royal, Don Julio, etc. That, to me, signals the possibility for barrel aging on a large scale using the leftover barrels from those spirits’ production. After all, if you’re a brewer, having a distillery in the family seems like a sweet deal.

I haven’t yet had the chance to check out the brewery, but it would be on my list if I’m in the Baltimore or Washington, D.C. area. A friend of mine actually visited the brewery this week; I can’t wait for him to get back to town so I can grill him about that cherry stout.