WEST LOOP — Hope you like stout because a new Guinness Taproom is coming to the city.
The taproom will open in the former Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal, 375 N. Morgan St., company officials announced this week. The West Loop location will be Guinness’ second U.S. location with plans to open on St. Patrick’s Day 2023.
Jay Sethi, chief marketing officer of parent company Diageo Beer Company, USA, called the city an “X factor” for choosing the next taproom location.
“The history of Chicago, in general, fits our values, beyond just the Irish history,” Sethi, a University of Chicago alum and Chicago native, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Sethi also told the Sun-Times the West Loop was an ideal location given its historic architecture, trendiness and accessibility to patrons in the city as well as in the suburbs.
The brewery’s menu will rotate various food and beers, including Guinness’ famous stout imported from Dublin as well as some brews that will only be available in Chicago. A bakery will launch with the brewery, an idea that began at the other U.S. site outside Baltimore, which used their facilities to bake bread and combat food insecurity during the pandemic.
“That’s new and I think it speaks to our heart and what we hope to be: good neighbors,” Sethi said.
The taproom will also be a venue for local artists and events while also offering tours of the brewery.
“Hopefully there’s the combination of that, it’s like a place that you can go to eat … to watch a game, to hang out and to check out, hopefully, local artists,” Sethi said.
Guinness’ Baltimore-area taproom opened in 2018, the first of the company’s breweries to be based in the country since 1954.
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