Governor Larry Hogan Joins Officials for Sagamore Spirit Groundbreaking

Whiskey Distillery Will Be One of the First Port Covington Redevelopment Projects

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Larry Hogan today joined local elected leaders, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, and executives from Sagamore Spirit, a new Baltimore-based whiskey company, to break ground on the company’s 5-acre whiskey distillery in Port Covington. The distillery will be one of the first projects in the larger Port Covington redevelopment.

The Hogan administration has consistently reaffirmed its support for the City of Baltimore and for transformational projects like Port Covington, which has the potential to be a major employment center in the city. Current plans for the Port Covington site include up to 3 million square feet of office and manufacturing space for Under Armour, plus additional commercial and recreation space.

“Sagamore Spirit and the entire Port Covington development project serves as an outstanding example of the economic development potential for Baltimore when companies invest in the city's future,” Governor Hogan said. “Our administration is wholly focused on creating the right conditions to grow the private sector, get people back to work, and turn Maryland's economy around. Sagamore will be an important partner in those efforts.”

The distillery, scheduled to open in 2016, was co-founded by Plank and Baltimore businessman Bill McDermond. The project includes a 22,000-square-foot distillery building, a 27,000-square-foot processing center, and a 120-foot Sagamore Farm water tower. The campus will also include a two-story restaurant and event space. Sagamore Spirit expects to welcome more than 100,000 visitors annually at its retail and visitor center for daily tours and tastings. Based on existing industry data, Sagamore Spirit officials expect that every distilling job will support or create roughly two additional jobs.

McDermond said it’s time to give Baltimore the attention it deserves. “We want to build another great Baltimore brand. The distillery will bring energy to Port Covington and activate waterfront property in our great city.”

As part of the distilling and aging process, Sagamore Spirit will use limestone-filtered water, which is ideal for making whiskey, from Plank’s Sagamore Farm, a 530-acre thoroughbred horse farm in northern Baltimore County. The company will launch its first product next year, an 83-proof Maryland-style rye whiskey, a nod to I-83, the interstate that connects Sagamore Farm to Sagamore Spirit.