F.X. Matt Brewing Company Will Begin Brewing a Guinness Beer
The F.X. Matt Brewing Company has confirmed it has won the rights to brew a lighter version of Guinness Beer called Guinness Blonde. The move announced on Thursday moves production of Guinness Blonde from Halethorp, Maryland to Utica.
Guinness Blonde, owned by Diageo, the parent company of Ireland's world famous Guinness Beer, was being brewed at a production brewery called Guinness Open Gate outside Baltimore for the last decade. In April, the company announced it was closing its large brewery, but would remain open for much smaller production runs.
Diageo sent a release to local media in Maryland announcing the move. "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," according to a report on WBAL-TV.
Guinness Blonde is a lighter and more citrusy lager that's popular in the northeast.
The move, which is expected to add more jobs in Utica will affect about 108 workers in Maryland, according to WBAL.
F.X. Matt Brewery is America's fourth oldest family-owned brewery, established in 1888. The brewery located in Utica's west-end touts the fact that it sold the very first beer in America after the end of prohibition on December 5, 1933, with the passage of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.
In May, the Matt's Brewing Company announced that it had purchased the Flying Dog Brewery and its beers.
Flying Dog has been known in the industry as a brand with artistic labels and creative language in branding over the years. Flying Dog has held free speech as one of its core values, even challenging the Michigan Liquor Authority's rejection of their "Raging Bitch" label for its 20th anniversary brew. "Flying Dog won its case in 2015 and was awarded a six-figure damages payment, which it used to establish the First Amendment Society," according to BrewBound.com.
In a recent interview on WIBX, Fred Matt credited the recent $35 million expansion at the brewery with affording them to be able to handle a much higher volume of brewing operations.