Award-winning West Yorkshire brewery celebrates 25 years of “pioneering” success

An independent Yorkshire brewery is toasting 25 successful years with a series of “innovative” special cask ales as sales continue to grow despite market challenges.

Brewer of nationally renowned brands such as Yorkshire Blonde, White Rat, Silver King and Excelsius, the “progressive” Ossett Brewing Co began life in 1998 on a five-barrel-brew-length kit behind the Brewer’s Pride pub in Ossett, West Yorkshire. Within three years brewing capacity was 40 barrels a week.

Winning many national and international awards, today’s modern brewery stands only a short distance from the original site in Low Mill Road producing an eclectic range of cask ale and lager. The company now produces 440 brewers-barrels a week serving a pub estate of 35 outlets, free trade customers and national customers all over the UK.

Ossett has received various CAMRA, Publican and SIBA national awards over the years including supreme national champion with Excelsius. Silver King won its first national award in 2001 and two decades later in 2021 won another national gold medal.

Each month there are collaboration brews, featuring “pioneering” ales such as Rose Petal IPA, brewed jointly with Adnams using the new UK Mystic hop. Alongside is a Single Hop series of pale ales exploring hops from the UK, USA, New Zealand, France and Germany.

The company was originally founded as a brewpub in 1998 by Bob Lawson, former career brewer at Joshua Tetley in Leeds. Son Jamie founded an independent pub group, Izakaya Pub Co. Ltd alongside the brewery in 2003 which later merged into the Ossett brewing group.

Jamie has led the brewery since Bob became Chairman in 2005 with Paul Spencer taking over as head brewer at the same time. Paul is still in charge of Ossett’s beer lineup after 22 years with the company. Jamie was also responsible for the founding of its craft beer sister company, SALT in 2018.

Ossett owner Jamie Lawson commented: “These post pandemic times have been particularly challenging for the brewing and pub industry. However, the past two years have seen us enjoy steady growth and we are now delighted to be celebrating our milestone 25th year with our Silver Series.

“We believe in the future of cask ale and are determined to build on our deep roots to sustain Ossett for the future through broadening the appeal of cask with inventive and exciting brands - as seen with our Silver Series, Synergy Series, Collaboration Ales and our Single Hopped programme as well as the all-time favourites that sit within our core range.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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