Brewer - not the job title I expected!

The years I spent in Boston in a job I always wanted to do (Sports Development) just flew by, but the question is how on earth did I come to live in Cumbria and start brewing beer – with no brewing qualifications, or even liking beer? Well I blame my friend that helped me move to Boston in all this! To cut a long story short, I met a guy (one of my friend's friend) on Facebook and it just went from there! Simple as!

A year after meeting 'The Man' I left Boston behind. It was sad knowing I would no longer be getting children interested in Sport, as a move to a different County meant a new career. A few jobs later I started working at Eden Brewery I'd known 'The Boss' through my job at a local supermarket. We’d chat about the Brewery he was starting, I constantly asked if he had any admin jobs. That year I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer, so two operations later the Thyroid was “fully removed”.  I’ve always been a work/trainingholic but the typical 60 hour working weeks I could no longer cope with, something had to change. I eventually started working at the brewery doing a few hours admin, this then progressed to cask washing. At this point I had two part time jobs making this the third. One day in the summer 'The Boss' asked if I was looking for a full time job.
“ How do you fancy a job as a brewer?” the Boss asked.
My response wasn't quite as eloquent “Are you taking the piss?!”
After accepting I told “The Man”, to which he says “ He does realise you can't cook, don't stick to recipes and don't like beer doesn’t he?!”

The Boss had left all the duties to me as he went to Japan in search of customers. I had a mountain of work to do!

In the years I was brewing beer the brewery grew from being at Brougham Hall in two very small rooms to an industrial unit big enough to house a Big Top circus tent and a couple of elephants to wander around in (or that's how it felt – when we had nothing but brewing equipment in it). For three years it was just The boss and me. On any given day towards the end I'd be starting at 5am for a double brew, Cask washing, filling the casks, admin, finishing the first brew and starting a second leaving at 4pm some days with the boss finishing the second brew (he'd been in from 9am). The weekly hours were starting to rack up again. We were producing for Morrison's, Booths, Co-op (local) and exporting to Japan and China as well as local businesses.

Mashing in a beer called Tasty Duck for Tebay (Westmorland) services M6. The 1st services to have beer brewed for them! This is my duck face :-)

Brewing beer was an experience, I learnt lots and was able to create my own recipes. One of the Traditional beers in our range 'Cracker' was the result of me forgetting to put a specific malt in the mix (due to running around like a loon). I brewed my last beer in January 2019. There is now no Eden River Brew Co (we changed our name a year after we moved) beer left on the shelves that I have brewed. I've had my time, now it's someone else’s. Almost five years later I now have the full time job I was hoping for at the brewery, The Office Bot!

If you don't ask, or do, you will never know. My advice if you are faced with a new challenge that takes you out of your comfort zone, way up the pro's and con's and take that leap.

The team back in 2019 when our Production Manager joined us and took over the brewing. L-R Linda, Jason (The Boss), Andrew (The Production Manager) and Neil (Joined us in 2017)

To read the full story from my job as a sports coach through to sports development and the significant people I meet along the way here are the first two blogs in the story...

Friends Neighbours and Countymen
Life's Sliding Door Moment