Last night a few of us Hawkers made our way over to Harrogate's Major Tom's Social to greet the super friendly--and Beard Champion of the Year™--Paul Jones, Co-Founder, of Cloudwater Brew Co. This Q&A MTB was a great time not only to try six of their current beers but also dig a little deeper into the mind of Mr. Jones, Cloudwater Brew Co.'s ethos and Major Tom's delicious pizza.

Meet-the-Brewer: Cloudwater Brew Co.

We'd just like to share some of the evening's best quotes so you, too, can see what they're all about. And for those keeping score: our favourite beer of the evening was the White IPA.

Top Insights into Cloudwater Brew Co.

"It feels good to have our customers drink our beer as fresh as possible."

--On the silver lining to not having enough stock to meet demand.

"If we find someone who is making the best IPA out there, that [beer] is our target."

--On how they decide what to brew and how to design their recipes.

At the beginning we were producing very bitter beers but [now] we're trying to rein that in with each brew we do...we're looking for balance."

--On their current approach to brewing.

"Very early on we decided that agility was going to be our focus...our tastes are always refining and changing...we're very satisfied to have made that decision...the world's our oyster."

--On why they've embraced seasonality and an ever-changing product range.

"We'd love to work with The Kernel...I love their London Sour, it's so clean. If our sour could be as clean as theirs..."

--On who he'd love to collaborate with.

 "Hopefully still alive, because you never know..."

--On where they hope to be in five years time (tongue in cheek)

"We hope to be a force for good in the industry"

--On where they hope to be in five years.

"We don't really have a size brewery in mind...once we take on this expansion in September, that's it! We don't really want to go to a [24/7] brew schedule. We don't really care about growth at all. Meeting demand is important. [We'll] try to satisfy demand and see where that leads us."

--On Cloudwater Brew Co.'s future plans.

Cloudwater has some big plans--and expansion--in store for the coming months. They're also apparently expanding their barrel-aging capacity to over 200 barrels. While conceding that not having enough stock is a good problem to have, Paul seems frustrated over letting down customers. Truth be told, that is not a unique problem to Cloudwater and--for the time being--most patrons seem understanding. Yet, as long as they keep making great beer, trying to do good things and respecting the industry, people and beer they'll always be successful.

Cheers Paul--it was great to see you!

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