HALETHORPE, MD. — St. Patrick's Day is a week away, but Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Maryland isn't waiting until the 17th to celebrate.
Guinness is holding a month-long party, spread over 16 days, with something happening every weekend this month.
Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Halethorpe is the only Guinness brewery in the U.S.
One day is not enough to contain all of the pride that Guinness has for Ireland. The Irish Village at Open Gate Brewery will be in full swing March 11, 12, 17, 18.
Guinness Open Gate Brewery marketing manager Oliver Gray said “come and enjoy music. We have traditional dancers, and traditional music, mandolins, fiddles, all that kind of exciting stuff.”
One way many people celebrate their Irish pride is with a toast of Irish beer. Open Gate Brewery will release a unique beer flavor each week this month.
“The first one which you should be able to get now is the Breakfast Tea Amber. It’s a favorite. We’ve been doing it for years now. It’s a really delicious amber base with Irish Breakfast Tea added to it, so it’s really nice, earthy and delicious, and then we’ve got the other three that are going to be released each week as we go,” Gray said.
Partygoers will want to order some hearty food to go with their favorite beer.
“We’ve got Irish food specials. We’ve obviously got corned beef and cabbage, gotta have that, it’s a classic, right? But we’ve got fish and chips, Shepherd's pie, and more traditional sort of, brewery style food,” Gray said.
While it's easy to look around and see what's on tap or what dishes are being served, revelers will need to search the brewery's social media pages on Facebook or Instagram to find the code to unlock a secret menu.
“We’ve got a video you can watch from our Irish team who will teach you a couple phrases in Irish, and if you say them, to the right booths in this village, you can get some special stuff,” Gray said.
There's more to celebrating St. Patrick's Day at Open Gate Brewery than just good food and drinks.
“It’s in Guinness’ DNA to give back to their communities. So, every day for St. Patrick’s Day, we’ve done something to support our communities. This year we have Sharp Dressed Man, who is a charity who takes donated suits and tailors them for people to go to job interviews,” Gray said.
While many celebrate their Irish ancestry on St. Patrick's Day, you don't have to have family from the Emerald Isle to have a good time.
“It’s just a chance, especially coming out of the gloomy weather of winter to sort of celebrate spring coming in, you know, have fun with your friends, get together, have a beer, have some great food and just kind of like shake off the winter,” Gray said.
The people at Open Gate Brewery want everyone to have a happy but safe St. Patrick's Day and ask people to drink responsibly. People can rideshare to Open Gate Brewery or if they drive and realize they’ve had too much to drink they can leave their car and rideshare home. Open Gate Brewery won’t tow anyone’s car as they prefer people get home safe.
