Corkonians Abroad: Dream role working at Jeremy Clarkson’s UK brewery

Where did you grow up and where are you based now?

I grew up on a dairy and beef farm five miles out the Drinagh Road in Skibbereen. The townland is called Maulatrahane - not much there but cows and wonderful country air.

I live in Cheltenham, which is a town 50 miles south of Birmingham in the south-west of England.

A long and winding journey to Cheltenham I moved to Cheltenham about a year ago, from Southampton. I lived in Southampton for three years.

To paint the picture of how I ended up here, we have to go back to 2007. I was doing my Leaving Cert at Bruce College, living on the Old Youghal road. I absolutely loved the vibrancy of Cork city in the year that I lived there doing my Leaving Certificate.

As an 18/19 year-old, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I did such a broad array of subjects for my Leaving, it was baffling even to the career guidance lad at the school.

I choose Stockbroking, Business and Journalism as my three subjects for CAO.

Results day came, and I didn’t get any of them. You could say I wasn’t focused enough, but I had no idea where or what to focus on.

I had also applied for UCAS (the UK version of CAO). I got offered Journalism & Politics at De Montfort University in Leicester.

All I knew about Leicester was that it had a damn good rugby team. But just to make sure Leicester was actually a real place, and there was actually a university there, my mum and myself flew over in August, 2007, to check it out.

It was in fact a real place, and it felt nice, cosy and welcoming. A small city like Cork, with a big heart.

Three weeks later, I was living there and I was going to ‘uni’ (which is what they call college over here). And three years later I had a degree in Journalism and Politics.

I worked in bars all the way through my time at ‘uni’, but I didn’t go to ‘uni’ to finish work at 4am, so I did that for a few months and came back to Ireland at the end of 2010.

Probably the worst timing - Ireland was broke and in recession. I sold life assurance for a year, painting the scene to people of their own death.

That wasn’t much fun, so I went doing something a bit happier, managing the Murphy’s Ice Cream shop in Killarney. That was fun, but the winter isn’t the most exciting time in an ice cream shop.

It was at this point whilst living in Killarney that I started to fall in love with beer (not in the way you think). I used to go to Torc Brewing and Killarney Brewing Company and it fascinated me.

I left Ireland again in 2012 to work in an Irish bar in Germany, again with no idea what I wanted to do in my life. I was just trying to escape and explore and figure it out, if that meant working in a stereotypical job for an Irish guy, so be it, I was still in my 20s.

I spent three years in Frankfurt, I improved my German and started to delve deeper into beer. I used to visit a local brewery called Braustill and pick the brewers’ brains, and I was also doing my own research online. I wanted to get into the industry but didn’t know how.

Fast forward to 2015, I was now married to a girl from California that I met in Germany. I was after quitting everything in Germany and was looking to start afresh in Nashville, Tennessee.

But wait, it couldn’t be that easy could it?

Turns out not, she had messed something up on my green card application and we had to come back to Europe to sort it out. We ended up staying at a friend’s house in Birmingham.

It was here that I finally bit the bullet and bought a home brew kit and taught myself how to brew. Whilst we waited for the nine-month process of visa applications I perfected my skills on this kit.

I was working at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant and I created a brand for my beers and was selling them to guests for cash whilst I was working there. I never went to America, and that relationship fizzled out.

Having started working with Dig Brew Co, six months later I got made Head Brewer and six months after that I won a prestigious beer competition, coming out top of 149 breweries.

The brewery was propelled nationally and in 2019 I got headhunted by a brewery in Shrewsbury called Evolution which gave me a hefty pay rise.

In 2021, during the second lockdown, I set up my own brewery, Crop Beer. I rented a little brewery in the back of a pub in Portsmouth (about 40 minutes from Southampton). I was working 8am to 4pm Monday to Friday in Southampton, and evenings and weekends on my own project.

Crop was going from strength to strength. The beers were being well received, and I was gaining traction. I was hoping that one day I would be 100% working for myself with Crop.

In December, 2022, Saoirse was born, a beautiful baby girl for Claire and I. Everything was great.

Then, in February, 2023, the pub that I was renting the brewery at went into liquidation and the equipment was sold. This was two months after our baby girl was born, stressed would have been an understatement.

That day, I saw a job advertised at Hawkstone, TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s brewery. I screenshotted it and sent it to Claire and immediately she said I should go for it.

We are both massive Jeremy Clarkson fans, we watch all the Grand Tour series and Clarkson’s Farm. We had also made separate five hour round trip pilgrimages to his farm, Diddly Squat, and Hawkstone previous to this.

It meant Claire was giving up living around the city that she’d always lived in, her family and her friends are all there. She was prepared to make this massive sacrifice for my dreams, and that meant the world to me.

I don’t think she even knows now how eternally grateful I am for this.

I’ve been here a year now and three months ago I got promoted to Director of Brewing. It is an amazing place to work, unlike any other brewery I’ve worked at, and growing at breakneck speed. Also, on my first week I had a pint with Jezza. Very surreal.

So that’s how I ended up in Cheltenham!

What is life like in your new home?

Cheltenham is stunning. It is just at the edge of the Cotswolds, which has some cute little villages and the most spectacular countryside. It’s not too dissimilar to West Cork. It’s the perfect place to bring up a family.

What has been the biggest challenge? And how have you tackled it?

Moving away from Claire’s family and friend support, and my family being across the Irish sea. We have flown my mum over to babysit and may do it a bit more as it’s so easy with airports in Birmingham and Bristol offering great links to Cork.

What has been your most memorable moment in your new location so far?

Seeing Saoirse take her first steps beside the pumphouse in Cheltenham town centre.

Any special mentions to friends or family back in Cork?

I’d like to shout out to my mum and dad, Anne and Patrick Burke, for believing in me.

If you were back in Cork for one day, what would be the ideal day for you?

Go to Caseys in Baltimore for lunch and a couple of pints of Sherkin Lass by West Cork Brewing Company, which is in their basement. Then take a ferry to Cape Clear and go for a lovely walk with Claire, Saoirse and my mum.

Then go to Ballydehob in the evening with my dad and my brother, listening to some live music in the pubs there.

What are you looking forward to in the coming months?

Road trip to Cornwall and building sandcastles on the beach with Claire and Saoirse.

Is there anything that you especially miss about Cork?

Fields’ Sliced Pan, I always get my mum to bring some over when she flies over.

It is an amazing place to work, unlike any other brewery I’ve worked at, and growing at break-neck speed. Also, on my first week I had a pint with Jezza. Very surreal.