Ossett Brewery has overhauled its leadership team with two new senior hires.
The West Yorkshire-based brewer has appointed Matt Howgate and Rich Nelson as its head of production and head of sales, respectively.
They join Edd Simpson, who has been Ossett’s managing director since 2023, in making up a new-look executive team at the cask-led brewer. Ossett Brewery founder Jamie Lawson also remained “heavily involved” in the business, the supplier said.
Howgate has joined Ossett from craft brewer Vocation. He brought “significant experience and a relentless focus” on operations and innovation, said the supplier. He will work alongside Ossett’s head of brewing Gary Farlow.
Nelson, meanwhile, has been promoted to become sales director, having joined Ossett’s sister brand Salt from Molson Coors in 2023.
The new leadership team would be tasked with rolling out a new cross-channel campaign to promote cask beer in the coming months, said Simpson.
“Our challenge as a cask producer is to embrace evolution and innovation whilst retaining our strengths and legacy,” he said. “Cask is the most authentic beer in the market, steeped in heritage and with the strongest call to be considered premium craft.
“By using this foundation with a progressive mindset, I believe that cask beer has the potential to thrive, rather than survive in the beer market of the future; and as a team we’re beyond excited to be at the forefront of the resurgence of cask.”
Ossett Brewery was founded by Lawson in the town of the same name in 1998. Its beers are mostly sold in the on-trade under the Rat Brewery moniker.
In 2018, it launched Salt, a dedicated craft beer brand that is distributed in the UK via a tie-up with Molson Coors.
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