USA, MD: Diamondback Brewing Company to open its own brewery in Baltimore this fall

Diamondback Brewing Company plans to take its next step as a young beer company this fall, said co-founder Colin Marshall, when it will open its first brick-and-mortar brewery at McHenry Row in Baltimore, The Baltimore Sun reported on April 17.

The company, which tapped its first keg in December 2014, currently contract brews out of Virginia’s Beltway Brewing Company. But now, as competition locally is higher than ever, the time is right for Diamondback to establish its own location, Marshall said.

“Contract brewing is extremely expensive, and while it’s worked to build a brand, it only allows you to grow to a certain extent before you’re capped,” Marshall, a Baldwin native, said.

The 6,800-square-foot location in Locust Point will feature a tasting room, where Diamondback plans to test new types of beer before committing to wide production, Marshall said. Diamondback — which Marshall founded with his friends and Loyola Blakefield classmates Tom Foster and Francis Smith — currently makes six types of beer, including 3:30 Amber Ale and Citranova Session Ale.

Diamondback is currently going through the state and federal permitting processes, Marshall said. The company is “fully confident” the schedule will remain on track to open in the fall, he said.

Already under way, construction will be done in two to three months, according to Marshall. He said Diamondback is renting the space from Mark Sapperstein’s 28 Walker Development, which has developed McHenry Row and Canton Crossing. Through a publicist, 28 Walker Development confirmed the agreement.

The location was once a facility operated by Philips Seafood, and the plan is to keep some of those touches within the building, he said. The tasting room’s bar will be built around the seafood company’s old exhaust stack, Marshall said.

Another detail that excites Marshall is the layout of the building. The production facility will be subgrade to the tasting room, which will allow visitors to look out over the production floor, instead of the typical eye-level view.

“It provides a very unique experience,” he said. “We haven’t found [another] one yet."

17 April, 2016