Hoster Brewing Company will close its James Road brewery and taproom after Saturday, October 31. The brewery announced the decision Wednesday in a release that also says it’s looking for another brewery to take on the Hoster name and its beers.
The taproom at 653 N. James Rd., just south of the airport, will keep its normal Wednesday through Sunday hours until then. Kegs will still go out to bars and restaurants through the end of the year, or until they sell out.
Why the taproom is closing
The release blames rising ingredient, material and energy costs and a shift in how people drink. Hoster was also facing a multi-year lease renewal that came with a rent increase.
“We have been honored stewards of the Hoster legacy, which began in the Columbus Brewery District in 1836,” partner Dan Meyers said in the release.
Meyers bought the rights to the name in 2004, according to Columbus Monthly, and for years had Gold Top, the Dortmunder-style lager that anchors the lineup, brewed under contract at other breweries. He took over part of the former Actual Brewing space on James Road in 2021, and the taproom opened in April 2024. “We’re sort of known as the on-again, off-again Hoster Brewing Company,” Meyers told the magazine in January 2024. This time, he said, it was on for good.
A brand that goes back to 1836
Louis Hoster started brewing on Front Street in 1836. By the turn of the 20th century the L. Hoster Brewing Co. was putting out around 300,000 barrels a year from its complex in what’s now the Brewery District. Prohibition ended that run. A brewpub revived the name on South High Street in the 1990s and closed in 2001, and the brand spent most of the two decades after that without a brewery of its own.
What happens next
“We sincerely hope this is not the end of the Hoster legacy,” the release reads. The company says it’s open to finding a new home for the Hoster brands, “hopefully with another brewery.” The release doesn’t name a partner, and it gives sales@hosterbeer.com as the contact for anyone interested.
The brewery’s site also lists a two-day Hoster Oktoberfest on Friday, October 9 (4 to 10 p.m.) and Saturday, October 10 (noon to 10 p.m.), with food trucks both days and brats cooked in Gold Top on Saturday afternoon. After Halloween, Hoster beer will only exist at other bars, and only for as long as those last, unless a new home for the brand is found.
