Since they've only been brewing since last spring, I don't have a long, storied history with these guys and gals from Manchester. Indeed, my first real taste of their beers was at last September's Leeds International Beer Festival. I was drawn in by their sleek branding and cool-looking bar at the festival. After striking up a conversation with Paul Jones, co-founder and beard-wearer extraordinaire, I could tell instantly that that we were going to be best friends. Well, me and the beer at least.

You see, with the industry being the way it is these days a fine-tuned brand image can be met with a bit of skepticism when first entering the market. How much work could a brewery have actually put into their beer if they've already got etched and logo'd glassware? T-shirts? Badges? (One might ask...)

But this was not a man rattling off tasting notes or other rehearsed jargon. This was no salesman who may as well have been talking to me about carpet installation. There was an earnest look in his eye and a maybe-explaining-himself-to-me-too-much explanation that had me believing in Cloudwater Brew Co. For there are decades of experience in both brewing and alcohol retail behind the brand. Sorry, not brand. Beer.

This experience and all the hard work setting up the brewery finally culminated in my glass in the form of their Autumn Red Ale. I remember it well. In the massive market of pale ales and IPAs and chucking anything in a bucket and seeing what comes out, it's nice to see a brewery doing something simple and different.

And do something different, they do. Every time. Every season. Cloudwater specializes in rolling with it. No slave to fighting for hops or settling for second-best. Whatever is available and in good-form, they create their seasonal core range around that. So while that makes for a very long list of beers on Ratebeer, that's about the only downside. The beer is always new and always fresh. And so, so good.

With the much-anticipated release of their DIPA V3, we're very excited to have Cloudwater Brew Co. be our Brewery of the Month for April. Keep an eye out for an e-mail where we'll be giving you a special offer off all Cloudwater beers. If you haven't already, you're going to want to get to know these beers. And become good friends.

Cheers

Maggie

-Beer Sommelier