Hoskins & Oldfield Brewery Ltd
Hoskins & Oldfield Brewery Ltd, North Mills, Frog Island, Leicester, Leicestershire.
Founded October 1984 by Philip and Stephen Hoskins, members of the Hoskins Ltd family, and accountant Simon Oldfield.
Brewing at Frog Island ceased in 2002, but the Hoskins Brothers continued to commission their own beers from other local breweries, to service their pub, the Ale Wagon in Leicester.
Mike Brown writes:-
On the sale of the Hoskins Ltd's brewery in October 1984, brothers Phillip & Stephen Hoskins with accountant Simon Oldfield formed a new brewery. They used plant from Hawthorne of Gloucester, to produce 5-10 barrels per week of HOB Bitter at 1041º OG. They had a capacity of 20 barrels. Initially the beers were available at Cotes Mill and the Albion, both in Loughborough.
In December 1987 they introduced Christmas Noggin at 1100º OG, and this was followed by Tom Kelly Stout at 1043º.
In 1994, they introduced White Dolphin, a wheat beer, in response to the growing sales of imported bottled wheat. They were also selling Ginger Tom, a 5.2% ginger beer. That year also saw a win at CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival for the Mild. This was followed by a celebratory brew called Ten Years After and a new Christmas brew, Tom Kelly’s Christmas Pudding Porter at 5% abv.
With a normal brew length of 10 barrels, they are currently brewing 20-30 barrels a week for a scattered free trade, including the nearby North Bridge Tavern. Phillip having been the Head Brewer at Hoskins before the family sale looks after the brewing side, whilst Stephen looks after the sales.
The current range of beers is as follows:-
- HOB Mild 3.5% Tom Kelly Stout 4.2%
- IPA 4.2% HOB Bitter 4%
- Supreme 4.4% Little Matty 4%
- White Dolphin 4% Porter 4.8%
- 04 Ale 5.2% Ginger Tom 5.2%
- Brigadier Bitter 3.6% EXS Bitter 5%
- Old Navigation Ale 7%
Christmas Noggin at 10% is available all year and is also bottled. They also brew specials e.g. for the 1999 Newark beer festival, they brewed a cask-conditioned lager called Shenanigans at 5%.
They currently supply some 15 outlets, including their first pub called The Ale Wagon in Charles Street.
