Two years brewing took Cloudwater to global success
RATEBEER annually releases its top 10 breweries list, and this year there was a surprising entry.
Manchester’s Cloudwater Brew Co was listed at number five in the world after just two years of trading.
It was a huge achievement for the young brewery, which took home a total of 11 awards at the ceremony, including best beer in Manchester (with their DIPA v9), top 100 beers in the world (DIPA v3), and a number of mentions in the best beers by style.
The accolade signals the wider picture of a thriving independent brewing scene in Manchester.
Brewers like Track, Runaway and Blackjack - to name just a few create some astounding brews. So why is it that Cloudwater gained international attention before the rest?
Paul Jones first opened the outfit on an industrial estate with his small team in 2014. From the offset, Jones made no secret of his ambition.
“We’ve got a lot of examples in our short history that prove fortune favours the bold,” he says.
“We’ve certainly benefited from maintaining and building on that confidence.
“I think that’s one of the factors that help to make us successful.”
Their confidence didn’t go unnoticed, not least among other brewers.
It’s safe to say the new kid on the block put a few noses out of joint in the tight-knit Manchester beer scene.
“I think people were quite cynical about the size of the brewery when we started,” Jones admits.
The norm in the UK - and certainly Manchester - for new breweries was largely home brewers setting up on a small-scale professional kit, he explains.
“I think a misconception was: we’re a bit too big for our boots.
“Other brewers thought what did we think we were doing with this scale, and what were we doing as a British brewery to publicly state our ambition, how dare we.”
But that was never going to deter Jones.
“I think those early misconceptions came through because I think people failed to see the experience that was already built into our starting team. I think we had something like 60 or 70 years of retail experience between us.
“From our point of view, it would have been insulting for me to turn to my staff and say: I know you’ve been working in breweries for years, but why don’t we work on this small scale just so that we don’t offend someone miserable in Manchester.”
Their ambition inevitably flows into the beers, which Jones explains are modelled on the best breweries and beers in the world.
“We’re always looking for the best example in each style. For example, we just released a helles. The best helles in the country right now is Thornbridge with Lukas,” he said.
“We think the best style example full stop is somewhere between Augustiner and Tegernseer.
“Even though it’s preposterous for a two-year old non-German brewery to say, ‘we’re going to try and close the gap between never making helles before and those that we classify as the best examples,’ we’re still doing that.”
“It’s the confidence to say we don’t know how far we can go,” Jones continues.
“Why impose a limit on your ambition?”
And with such impressive accolades already under their belt, it looks like Cloudwater’s confidence is well placed.