Cloudwater in my opinion do make some great hoppy beers, their imperial stouts are also great and I have tried their sours, the customer service is great, not sure they are more expensive than others particularly, I’m happy to pay for quality, but personally I would like it if they kept their politics out of beer and just stuck to making beer.
I like Cloudwater and I think they do many styles right BUT. That’s right there is a BUT, they also play the change one hop game and con us tickers into buying them all.
PS: Their American Barleywine was just a DIPA with a mislabel. I didn’t like it
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I also heard from a reliable source that their recent Birthday Triple BIPAs originated as a botched batch of their imperial stout, My Continuous Improvement. I did like them though …
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Personally I think Cloudwater are at the top of their game, but as a brewer that continually experiments they can be hit and miss.
The beer we tried Jeremy was a clear miss because it didn’t deliver what was intended. They presented what they aimed for on the label description as if they had succeeded or were confident of the result, rather than say “we thought this might be fun to try, but it didn’t work out so we’re selling this cheap”. And then sell it cheap.
Similarly, a strain of sabro was used in one recent beer that gave strange banana esters. Sabro’s distinctive character wasn’t stated on the label, so I had customers bringing it back saying it was ‘off’ or wasn’t an IPA like they asked for.
But generally I’d say 90% of the time Cloudwater easily make some of the best beer in the country.
I know Mat, I did say they brew some good stuff before I mentioned the uninteresting or ‘strange’ ones.
I think my taste buds are being left behind with some beers these days, I want twigs and English Hops again, not coconut/banana/tropical fruit/wine flavouring hops all in the same kettle.
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They’ve never really gone away. As a fan fanboi of CW I think they consistently brew great beers. We’re in a good place at the moment. Lots of great UK beers and a regular supply of the US finest. There’s also a solid supply of solid cask beers too that will keep @BlackHaddock happy!
If you don’t like CW beers don’t buy them. You’re definitely not short of alternatives.
If you want to sample a massive range of styles that are generally great then drink CW or Kernel or Deya!
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Love Kernel as well. Never got the intense love for Deya, but perhaps I’ve just not had the right beers.
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I think they’re still pretty good. I get to consistently try some of their beers at tastings and they are usually good to excellent. That’s usually stuff like mixed ferm, sours, etc.
Outside of tastings, I don’t drink as much Cloudwater as I used to. Might buy a new one every few months. That’s not an indictment of the brewery’s quality, it’s more just that I focus scooping local breweries and new breweries.
