Fans of Guinness’ Baltimore Blonde will soon be unable to purchase the beer in stores. Diageo, Guinness’ parent company, announced Wednesday that the beer will be made and sold “exclusively” at the Open Gate Brewery in Halethorpe.

It’s been over a year since Diageo shut down its Baltimore County manufacturing plant and began outsourcing production of Guinness Baltimore Blonde to New York’s FX Matt, despite efforts from county officials and area brewers to keep it local.

Now, that partnership appears to be coming to an end as well, so if you’re looking for a can or glass of the blonde ale, you’ll have to go directly to the source.

Guinness has maintained a 10-barrel experimental brewing operation at the Open Gate visitors’ center even after closing its larger plant and laying off nearly 100 workers in April 2023.

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When the Halethorpe factory opened in 2017, it was hailed as being Guinness’ first in the U.S. in over 60 years. To build it, Guinness and Diageo successfully lobbied Maryland officials to amend liquor laws to permit such a large-scale operation.

Meanwhile, Diageo is strengthening its investment in Guinness 0.0, an alcohol-free version of the classic draught first introduced in 2020 and produced in Ireland. Sales of the product grew by nearly 50% from February of last year to February 2024, according to a press release.

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Maryland brewers have faced recent challenges from an increasingly saturated marketplace coupled with a decline in overall rates of drinking. Flying Dog Brewery and DuClaw Brewing Company both sold to out-of-state companies in spring 2023 and moved production out of Maryland. Pigtown’s Suspended Brewing suspended operations late last year and now plans to open a smaller facility in Hampden. This year, Pariah Brewing shut down, while Key Brewing merged facilities with Baltimore’s Monument City as an effort to conserve resources.