☁️ From Beakers to Breweries

The Evolution of CLOUDS Brewing: A Hospitality Story Worth Telling!

Before the beer flowed and the barstools filled, there were blueprints, engineering schematics, and motherboard diagrams. Matt MacNeil, a seasoned IT entrepreneur, and John Oldendorf, a mechanical engineer designing missile guidance systems, didn’t set out to build a hospitality empire. They set out to build better beer. But as any great brewer will tell you—great things take time, precision, and passion in 2014, after years of homebrewing, John returned from completing the elite World Brewing Academy program in Chicago and Munich. Inspired and ready, he and Matt launched CLOUDS Brewing with one core philosophy: From microchips to microbrews, the process matters. If you can’t measure it, you can’t control it. ”That mindset—precise, passionate, and always improving—still defines everything we do".

🍻 From Brewery Restaurant to Brand

Long before we became a regional brewery with statewide distribution and a hospitality brand stretching across the Triangle, CLOUDS Brewing was a restaurant. Not just any restaurant—a Brewery Restaurant before we had our own brewhouse. We opened our first location in Downtown Raleigh with a bold idea: “Let’s build a place where the beer matters just as much as the food—and where guests feel like family. ”From day one, we featured curated craft beer selections, chef-driven dishes, and a welcoming space for locals and beer lovers alike. It wasn’t about volume—it was about vibe, connection, and quality. That original Raleigh restaurant laid the foundation for what CLOUDS would become:

✅ A brand built on great beer and great hospitality

✅ A testing ground for the beers that would later become statewide staples

✅ A launchpad for our commitment to community, creativity, and consistency

That’s where we built our first guest base.

That’s where we started experimenting with flavors and pairings.

That’s where the vision for our own brewery was born. And even though the Raleigh location has since evolved, it remains our spiritual starting point—the moment CLOUDS Brewing first found its voice.

Our beers—once served solely in-house—earned a loyal following and distribution through Empire Distributors, expanding our reach across all of North Carolina. As we grew, so did our ambition.

We opened:

~Our Raleigh brewery taproom, which is pouring pints direct from the source.

~A full-service restaurant and “Brewcade” in downtown Durham, where guests sip our award-winning beers while enjoying arcade games and handcrafted comfort food.

~Storm Cellar, our Chapel Hill taproom and basement bar—now a Franklin Street staple with live music, cocktails, board games, and a fiercely loyal UNC crowd.

With every expansion, we blended engineering precision with hospitality heart—and that’s what led us to our next chapter.

🍽️ A Passion for Food, A Calling for Events

The moment we paired Chef Mauricio’s traditional Mexican cooking roots with our handcrafted brews, the response was electric. Our Dirty Heaven Sandwich, stacked with short rib barbacoa and house-made lemon cilantro sour cream, became a guest obsession. We began hosting beer pairing dinners, private events, and corporate receptions. Word got out: CLOUDS Brewing knew how to throw a party.

As demand exploded, we realized: we weren’t just a brewery anymore. We were becoming a full-fledged hospitality powerhouse.

🤝 The Next Level: A Partnership for Expansion

In 2025, a new chapter began. We crossed paths with Jonathan Munsell, a nationally recognized hospitality consultant with deep roots in restaurants, catering, and event operations.

Lucky for us, Jonathan lives right here in Cary, NC. After months of collaboration and some truly game-changing improvements—think:

✅ Elevated service standards

✅ Operational structure & training systems

✅ A deeper emotional connection with guests through the launch of the CLOUDS CLUB Loyalty Program

—we knew it was time to take things further. We officially partnered with Jonathan to launch CLOUDS Catering & Events as a dedicated division of our growing hospitality brand.

🎉 CLOUDS Catering & Events: Built for Big Moments

Led by Jonathan and powered by our massive production kitchen in Durham, CLOUDS Catering now services the entire RTP region and beyond. From corporate drop-offs and pharmaceutical lunches to galas, weddings, festivals, and full-service off-site receptions, our team executes events at scale—without ever sacrificing quality.

“I’ve personally planned over 500 weddings and thousands of events across the country,” Jonathan says.

“From The Ritz-Carlton in Philly to Lincoln Center in NYC, to the biggest Inaugural Ball in U.S. history—I’ve done it all. And now I get to bring that experience to the Clouds team and our clients, right here in North Carolina.”

His mission? To make every guest feel like the only guest.

That same philosophy now drives everything we do at CLOUDS.

🌟 What’s Next?

What started as a brewery is now a statewide beer brand, a multi-location restaurant group, and one of the largest catering & events companies in the Triangle. But we’re just getting started. With award-winning beers, chef-driven food, and a team that leads with heart and hospitality, the future is full of opportunity.

Join us. Raise a glass.

Welcome to the next chapter of CLOUDS!