At Cloudwater, we have a diverse team consisting of 50% women who are involved in different areas of the business such as production, packaging, warehouse, retail, hospitality, and management. We value and celebrate the achievements of women as it is an essential part of our identity here at Cloudwater. On February 6th, we hosted an extraordinary brew day in honour of IWD 2024 and invited women from various Manchester organisations who have inspired and impacted us and their communities. Participants in the project include Flawd, Manchester Laces, Odd Arts, Eat Well, Isca, and other notable figures like Maxine Peake and Rivca Burns who attended the brew day..It was amazing to have everyone under one roof, and we cherish the result of the day which you might be holding in your hands right now. Enjoy!
Flawd is a neighbourhood natural wine bar and bottle shop with a small kitchen and daily changing seasonal menu, brought to you by the team behind Higher Ground. Flawd’s menu is influenced by Seri’s Korean heritage and her passion for preservation, and the majority of the produce served is grown at Cinderwood, their market garden in Cheshire which grows for restaurants with regenerative, organic principles.
Featured on the can are Head Chef, Seri Nam, Sommelier Meg Williams, and Front of House Pheobe Patrick.
What can you tell us about Flawd?
We are a neighborhood natural wine bar and bottle shop with a small kitchen and a daily changing menu which showcases produce from our partner farm Cinderwood Market Garden.
Why is it important to empower women in the hospitality industry?
It is important to empower women in every industry. We are very lucky to have a majority female team, but we know this is not the case in most hospitality settings so we do what we can to empower all the amazing women in our industry and especially in Manchester.
What are your stand-out hospitality experiences from around the world and how have these influenced what you are achieving at Flawd?
We all love hospitality and go out to eat and drink a lot, so we’re constantly finding influences from different venues and cultures around the world. Phoebe loved a recent trip to Athens where she stayed with a friend and got to enjoy the very best Greek hospitality from her friend’s parents. Meg is always blown away by the generosity and hospitality of winemakers that she has visited in the past, especially as a vegan with a nut allergy!
Where does Flawd get its inspiration from?
We are very inspired by lots of European wine bars like Bar Brutal in Barcelona and Propaganda in Copenhagen, we hope to capture a little bit of that on the Marina.
What's your Manchester guilty pleasure?
An after-work golden tandoori.
Where are your favourite places to eat in Manchester?
Ca Phe Viet, Napoleon’s and of course Higher Ground are some of our go to spots.
What winemakers are really exciting you at the moment?
We were lucky enough to host Alanna Gamba and Pauline Baumberger recently who are making moves in the new German wine scene. Some of our other favourites include Vinyes Tortuga, Chateau Baby Girl, Zsolt Sütő, Emilie Mutombo, Christine Pieroth, Ének Peterson, Constantina Sotelo, Ketevan Berishvilli and István Bencze.
Where does the inspiration come from for the menu?
A lot of Flawd’s menu is influenced by Seri’s Korean heritage and her passion for preservation. Being able to experience the produce’s journey of complexity way beyond its season is very rewarding, especially when we know how much hard work goes into growing it.
What principles do you look for when choosing your wine and ingredients on the menu?
Cinderwood influences what goes on the menu week on week, whatever’s growing, we’ll have it on the menu in some form. We tend to choose wines from small producers who use organic and biodynamic principles, and treat their land and their vines with respect, whilst making fun and interesting wines that we want to drink with friends.
What are you growing on the farm this year that you're most excited to add to the menu?
We are growing perilla from seed which was brought over by Seri after her most recent trip to Korea and we are excited to see more of it on our menu. Tomato season is always a big one, and we also grow celtuce, a Chinese stem lettuce with seemingly endless possibilities that we are still experimenting with year on year.
What’s Flawd’s connection to Cloudwater?
We have known Paul for a long time and Cloudwater’s beer has been a constant staple on our beer offering since day one. We love to support other local businesses with what we offer and you can’t get more local to us than Cloudwater!
