Guinness to debut Open Gate Brewery in West Loop this summer, with restaurant and bakery in plans

If you’re hankering for a perfect pour of Guinness lingers long after St. Patrick’s Day, you’re in luck: Guinness expects to open its Chicago brewery this summer in the West Loop neighborhood.

Open Gate Brewery will be the second of its kind in the United States, and will share similarities with its sibling Guinness brewery outside of Baltimore.

In addition to a taproom and working brewery, Open Gate will boast a full-service restaurant, a bakery with coffee from Intelligentsia and spaces for retail and private events, the company said. The brewery will operate within the former Pennsylvania Railroad Depot at 901 W. Kinzie St. near the Fulton Market district.

Guinness has “long been fascinated with the idea of taking what is old and making it new again,” making the long-empty depot an ideal location, said Rodney Williams, president of the brand’s parent company, Diageo Beer.

The 10-barrel brewery system located within the brewery won’t pump out the brand’s draft stout — that will still be brewed and imported from Dublin — but will instead make beer specially for the Chicago taproom. Like in Baltimore, where the Baltimore Blonde lager grew popular enough to be sold beyond the Guinness taproom, Chicago’s Open Gate Brewery will make beers tailored to Chicago palates.

And given the “great mixture of culture and tradition” in Chicago, there’s plenty of potential for a signature Chicago brew, Williams said.

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Non-beer drinkers will also have something to enjoy at the taproom. While liquor won’t be sold, spirit-free cocktails with ginger beer and soda water will offer an alternative option, and the nonalcoholic Guinness 0 will also be available.

[ Taste testing nonalcoholic Guinness 0 — and making a tweak ]

The brewery’s restaurant partners Guinness with the Stefani Restaurant Group, which helms Stefani Prime and Bar Cargo in Chicago; as well as Hyde Park Hospitality. Chicago classics such as Italian beef and pizza are expected to grace the menu, along with beer pairings with global cuisines spanning from Southeast Asia to Jamaica.

“I think there’s a lot of exciting things to come on the menu, and we’re really bound by nothing,” said spokesperson Ryan Wagner. “I think we’re going to do some really creative things out there from a food point-of-view.”

The new bakery Guinness will try out comes from a hobby that many picked up during pandemic lockdown: baking bread. Apart from selling the bread and baked goods at the brewery, Guinness will also partner with the Greater Chicago Food Depository for donations.

food@chicagotribune.com

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