Brewing up a fine romance along the way
Maud and Sam Black met in Sydney and then later moved to Kinsale where they opened a brewery and distillery, writes Andrea Smith
MAUD and Sam Black met in their 20s in 2001 while they were travelling in Australia with their respective best friends. Maud and three of her fellow nurse pals moved into a backpacker house in Sydney that slept 14 people, and she hit it off with Sam immediately, although he was due to leave to continue travelling three days later. “I tried to kiss her and she wasn’t having any of it, and it kind of reeled me in,” he recalls.
Maud thought Sam was very handsome and entertaining, and while she was hugely attracted to him, she didn’t want to fall into his arms too quickly. “He was a player and had a glint in his eye, so I wasn’t going to give in too fast,” she laughs. The strategy worked as Sam went off travelling with his mate Gareth in their campervan, and couldn’t get the West Cork girl out of his head. “I got played by Maud,” he grins. “I was blown away because she was so attractive and so much fun, and I loved her Irish accent.”
Over the next six months, the nurses met up with the lads for weekends away in different parts of Australia, and Maud eventually gave in to Sam’s charms in Byron Bay. There was obviously something in the air as her best friend, Maryrose, met her own partner, Carlos, a few days later. Sam, Maud and Maryrose all moved in together in Melbourne, and when their visa was up and it was time to come home, Sam decided to go back to Cork with Maud and they ultimately settled in Kinsale.
Moving to Cork was an easy decision for Sam, as although he was born in London, the middle of Frances and Bill’s five children, he didn’t feel ties to anywhere in particular, as his family moved around the UK a lot. His dad was a Scottish Baptist minister, so Sam had different friends and schools every couple of years, and after studying geography at university, he went travelling.
His parents have now retired to Lincolnshire, and Sam (40) says that he has never lived anywhere for as long as in Kinsale. “When we first came to Ireland, I couldn’t understand Maud’s dad’s West Cork accent at all,” he says.
Maud, aka Maudeline Crowley (43), grew up in Ahiohill in West Cork, and is the fourth of Denis and Helen’s six children. After school, she went to London to train as a nurse, which she loved, and worked in London and Dublin before going off travelling.
She and Sam were married in 2008 in Cork and now have two sons, Daniel (8) and Senan, who turns six, this week. Becoming parents has added a whole new dimension to their relationship and they love it. “Sam is a great dad and husband,” says Maud. “He’s very thoughtful and helpful and always has great ideas for presents. He got very involved in organising with the wedding, and he minds me, so I feel safe with him.”
‘I tried to kiss Maud but she wasn’t having any of it’
When they first moved to Cork, Maud was working as a nurse and Sam was in an engineering role. One of his hobbies was home brewing, as Maud had given him a kit one Valentine’s Day and he enjoyed the whole process. He got more into it and went on to complete a brewing course and, ultimately, decided to set up his own brewery in 2013. It’s called Blacks of Kinsale, and it was hard initially, as the financial landscape was still tough then. Maud helped in the business when she wasn’t in work or with the children. “I think people probably thought we were a bit mad,” she says, “and I imagine our families held their breath.”
They can all exhale now, though, as the business has grown into a great success, even in a relatively short space of time. They added a distillery in 2015, and now produce gin, whiskey, rum and a range of beers. While she wrestled with the decision for a while, Maud left her nursing job in the orthopaedic theatre of the South Infirmary in 2015 to join Sam in the business full-time, because it had grown so busy and could support her financially. They now also employ five other people, and Maud looks after a lot of the HR and PR functions and takes care of the accounts.
Their products are now stocked in pubs around the country, as well as supermarket chains like Tesco and SuperValu. One of their USPs is that they make the country’s only Irish rum — a spiced rum — and use local heather flowers in their gin. They have seven core beers, and they create a new beer on draught every three weeks for pubs. “It keeps it interesting for the customer and it’s fun for us to create new things,” says Sam, adding that they were both fans of craft beer in the first place.
While she isn’t involved in the brewing process, Sam says that Maud has a great taste of flavour and smell and is a good judge of the recipes. They couldn’t do it without the support of their families, they say, particularly Maud’s mum Helen and her sister, Miriam, who help take care of the children when they are away on business. Sam and Maud admit that they find it hard to switch off from work at home, but they have implemented a rule that they don’t talk about business in the bedroom. They manage it most of the time! They still laugh and have a lot of fun together, and say that they still get great entertainment from each other. “Maud is a great wife and mother and life is easy and happy and fun,” says Sam. “We used to pass like ships in the night when Maud was nursing so now we get to spend all of our time together, which is fantastic.”
www.blacksbrewery.com