Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Halethorpe is throwing open its beer garden for Oktoberfest, with a Munich-style tent, live Oompah music and five German-style beers pouring every Friday through Sunday from September 18 through October 4. General entry is free, and the celebration brings beer, food and music to the Baltimore County community for three straight weekends.
The festival details were featured on FOX45 News's Hometown Hotspot segment, where WBFF meteorologist Justin Chambers visited the brewery ahead of the event. Guests can expect authentic Bavarian foods including house-made sausages, stuffed pretzels, brats, fried pickles and German desserts, all served alongside five unique German-style beers, according to Visit Baltimore. The brewery also offers seasonal programming.
A Second Festival Follows in October
Once Oktoberfest wraps, the celebration does not stop. Rocktoberfest, featuring live bands, is scheduled for October 9 through 11, giving Halethorpe two back-to-back beer-and-music weekends this fall, per the same FOX45 report.
The Oktoberfest programming lands at a facility that looks very different from the one that opened in 2018. Diageo, the brewery's parent company, launched the Halethorpe site as a $90 million flagship project combining high-volume commercial production of Baltimore Blonde with an experimental taproom, but the operation underwent a major pivot in April 2023 when Diageo announced it would close its manufacturing facility on June 9, eliminating 97 manufacturing jobs, as reported by CBS Baltimore. Production of the flagship Baltimore Blonde shifted offsite, while the popular taproom, restaurant and 10-barrel experimental innovation brewery were preserved.
From Industrial Plant to Tourism Anchor
The Baltimore County destination brewery was approaching its one-millionth guest milestone in January 2022, according to Baltimore Magazine. When it officially opened in August 2018, the facility marked the first operational Guinness brewery on American soil since a short-lived Long Island City, New York plant closed in 1954, per Diageo. The 62-acre campus itself carries deeper history, having been built on the grounds of the Calvert Distillery.
Guinness later opened a second U.S. Open Gate Brewery in Chicago's West Loop in September 2023, as Hoodline reported in its piece on the Chicago outpost's $20 million listing.
State Support Amid a Tough National Market
The Halethorpe brewery's continued festival programming is part of Maryland's craft beverage tourism landscape.
The national craft beer industry is navigating a challenging market. Taproom events and direct-to-consumer hospitality offer alternatives to bulk production. Small and independent American craft breweries are also part of the national craft beer industry.
Maryland's brewing history makes Halethorpe's fall festivals feel like part of a much longer story. For now, though, the draw is simpler: free entry, Oompah music, and a stein of something new.
