Departures of Flying Dog, Guinness parent company reflect industry trends, experts say
In this July 25, 2011 photo, Flying Dog Brewery CEO Jim Caruso selects a beer to pour from a tap at the brewery’s headquarters in Frederick. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
May 23, 2023
Jack Hogan
The Daily Record
Weeks after Guinness’s parent company filed plans to shutter its Baltimore County manufacturing plant, Flying Dog Brewery this week announced it will close its Frederick facility. But the departures are more indicative of industry trends than of a brewery problem in the state, say industry experts.
Guinness’s parent company, Diageo North America, plans to close its Baltimore County site on June 9, according to a March filing with the Maryland Department of Labor. The filing states that 108 people work at the site, but a spokesperson for Diageo wrote in an email that 97 roles will be impacted.
The Guinness Open Gate Brewery, which is adjacent to the manufacturing plant, will remain open and continue to brew beers.
Across the country, the beer marketplace is “showing a bit of contraction” as breweries adapt to a growing industry and consumers’ changing preferences, said Jim Bauckman, director of communications for the Brewers Association of Maryland.
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