Baltimore (United States) (AFP)

The coronavirus was right this year for most of the St. Patrick's Day festivities, but many Americans proud of their Irish origins will be able to drown their grief in the beers produced by the first Guinness brewery to operate in the United States since the after -war.

A green-white-orange flag flies over the terrace, where a piece of U2 resounds in front of the enormous golden harp overhanging the entrance of the building. You could almost believe you were in Ireland if it was not more than 20 ° C in winter and if a directional sign did not definitively dispel the doubt: "Dublin is 3.352 miles from here".

More than 60 years after a brief experience near New York, Guinness chose to return to the United States to settle in Baltimore, which shares some similarities with Dublin's "dirty old town". "Two industrial cities with a bad reputation," sums up Ryan Wagner, "ambassador" of the new American brewery.

It opened in the summer of 2018, on the site of a distilling distillery, to consolidate the brand in a country fond of beer. "The United States is probably the most dynamic and attractive beer market in the world at the moment, and we just wanted to be as close as possible to the action", explains online Guinness, owned by the alcohol giant Diageo.

In order to develop its image with the Americans, the Irish company has decided to place itself in the same niche, in vogue, as the craft breweries which proliferate almost everywhere in the country.

She does not produce her famous black and creamy white-collar stout in Baltimore, but a multitude of more or less "experimental" house beers - IPA, blond, fruity or aged in bourbon barrels ...

"When we talk about Guinness, people first think of a beer, not necessarily a brewer," says Ryan Wagner. "We want to change their perception and have our place in a rich and varied beer market. But you can never pretend to be a small brewery".

- Irish heritage -

The Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore may want to play in the same yard as its artisan counterparts, but it struggles with much sharper weapons. The parent company has invested $ 90 million in the development of the new site (more than 25 hectares in total), recruited some of the best local specialists and capitalized on a name already widely recognized around the world.

Strategically located near an international airport and in a large population base (New York, Philadelphia and Washington are less than 4 hours away), the brewery attracted 400,000 people in its first year of operation, a figure beyond expectations.

Many Americans, especially on the east coast, claim filiation with the Irish who fled en masse in the 19th century from the poverty and famine that ravaged their island, under the yoke of British occupation.

Others, like Alex Ward, 31, who does not know any Irish ancestors, simply appreciate being able to drink a good beer in a setting "both very different, but also similar in some respects" to that of original Dublin brewery he visited.

"It is closer to the city center there, with an industrial side. Here, there is space, you can stroll and relax," he compares. "And I can get there by car. It would be harder for Ireland."

Both he and his girlfriend opted for locally produced beers rather than the iconic stout. Directly imported from Dublin, the latter remains the most sold in Baltimore. Legend has it, however, that it will lose quality the further you get from the Irish capital.

"This is the case with any beer", smiles in his thick beard Ambassador Wagner, who is also in his spare time the announcer of the city's baseball team, the Orioles.

"I imagine that if you are in Dublin, in a 900 year old pub, that you are served a perfect pint with traditional music, your Guinness will have a slightly different taste", he explains. "But I think the one we serve here is perfectly up to the task."

Dublin, after all, is only 3,352 miles away.

© 2020 AFP