UK-based alcoholic beverages firm Diageo is planning to build a new Guinness open gate brewery in Maryland, US.

The company has also unveiled a new Irish whisky expression Roe & Co.

To be situated in Baltimore County, the new brewery will also include a Guinness visitor centre with a microbrewery at the existing Relay site in Maryland, in addition to a tap room and retail store.

It is estimated that the new brewing capability and consumer experience, along with a packaging and warehousing operation, would amount to an investment of approximately $50m in Relay.

The firm intends to create new Guinness beers at the Baltimore facility for its US customers, while Guinness Stouts will continue to be brewed at St. James's Gate in Dublin, Ireland.

"The new brewery will also include a Guinness visitor centre with a microbrewery."

Diageo has recently announced plans to invest €25m in the restructuring of St. James’s Gate distillery over a period of three years.

It is estimated that the US brewery project will create around 40 jobs in brewing, warehousing, and packaging operations such as canning, bottling, and kegging, along with 30 jobs at the visitor centre and construction.

The firm's Roe & Co whisky is created using hand-selected stocks of Irish malt and grain whiskies and aged in bourbon casks. Bottled at 45% alcohol by volume and non-chill filtered, the new whisky expression is claimed to be a balanced blend of vanilla, fruit and spice.

It is expected that the first blend of Roe & Co will be available in select European cities from 1 March, 2017.

Image: Expected layout of Tap room at the new Guinness brewery. Photo: courtesy of PRNewsFoto/Diageo.