Where is Guinness Extra Stout Brewed for the American Market?

Alright, so, last I heard, there were three main types* of prepackaged Guinness bottles available to the American market:

  • Guinness “Draught” (Black bottle with a mechanical widget and/or extra nitrogen)
  • Guinness Extra Stout (Brown bottle, no gimmicks)
  • Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (Higher ABV and price than the other two)

My impression was that these beers (or at least some of them) were all brewed in Canada or had some sort of essence of the beer shipped from Ireland to Canada and then combined with Canadian water and bottled. That way, they could accurately claim to be an import (Canada is not the United States), and have people assume it was from Ireland, when some or all of it was actually from Canada.

It’s been some years since I’ve had a Guinness (Kind of expensive for what it is and no bottled on or best by date contribute to me not buying it often, but I do like the beer, so every few years…) until I bought a 12 pack of the regular Extra Stout recently. I’m seeing the words “Brewed in Ireland” and “Product of Ireland” on the bottle labels. That naturally gives me the impression that at least this line of Guinness is actually from Ireland these days. However, I am wondering if I am missing some kind of loophole or the exploitation of a deficiency in American labeling regulations, given that that Guinness has historically attempted that sort of thing at times.

Anyone know what the current status is of where the various types of Guinness for the American market are brewed?

I suppose it really doesn’t matter. However, if there is a place to ask beer questions that don’t matter (and get informed answers from people who actually know them), this seems like the best place to do it. :slight_smile:

  • They also briefly had a “Guinness Blonde Lager” and/or a “Guinness Baltimore Blonde” (Possibly alternate names for the same beer) brewed in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. However, I think that may have been discontinued.

  • Bonus points if anyone knows if some variation of that is still brewed. I think I remembered “Guinness Blonde Lager” being discontinued, but their website lists “Guinness Baltimore Blonde”, so maybe they resurrected and possibly revamped it under a new name. It’s also possible they are just leaving it up on the website in case there are still distributors and retailers with old stock they’re trying to move.

There was definitely bottled Guinness Extra Stout being produced in Canada at some point. I think they stopped years ago but I don’t recall.

"Plaintiff Kieran O’Hara filed a class action lawsuit in January 2016. O’Hara accused Diageo-Guinness USA Inc. and Diageo North America Inc. of allegedly advertising false information about Guinness Extra Stout.

He said the company claimed that the beers were brewed at St. James’s Gate brewery in Dublin, Ireland, when, in fact, they were brewed in New Brunswick, Canada. "
https://considertheconsumer.com/class-action-settlements/guinness-extra-stout-settlement-2021-not-brewed-at-st-james-gate-brewery-dublin

He won - sort of.

Moosehead is in New Brunswick.

I think that this is right. When I had it in 2007 or whatever it was produced by Labatt. Recently (3-4 years back) I did have Extra Stout in the US produced in Ireland, but I think most Extra Stout is generally made somewhere in the US.

I had been told they make a concentrate, send it overseas to Baltimore or wherever and blend it, but they can still say it was made in Ireland. Seems sort of ridiculous.

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They certainly do that for markets in Africa, but I think the concentrate is fermented after dilution upon arrival.

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Guinness is famously secretive. I emailed them about 12 years ago, trying to figure out the various Export Stout versions. After multiple redirects, I eventually talked to someone at the brewery to straight out refused to discuss the topic. They have some sort of company policy against it. They actually have some pretty awesome beers. The various FES and the Special Export are very good, it is a shame that we don’t really know much about them.

Can’t you just go to the grocery store and look at the packaging? If not, I’ll have a look this week.