Experience

Clonakilty Distillery

• Ireland
• Beverage Manufacturing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Head Distiller/Blender

  • Apr 2018 - Present

  Head distiller/blender Head distiller/blender



Teeling Whiskey Company

• Ireland
• Food and Beverage Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Lead Distiller

  • Dec 2015 - Apr 2018

  • Point of contact for daily production and distillery operations.• Organising/managing production schedule. Ensuring KPIs are met. • Point of contact for revenue. Preparing daily, weekly, monthly reports for revenue. Conducting spirit transfers and tankers with revenue officials. • New product development for the company ranging fromo Novel cask/wood finishes and maturation techniques.o New blend formulation.o Liaising with craft breweries on new products and collaborations.o Development of proprietary yeast blend.o New malt bills within confines of Irish whiskey technical file.o Working with third level institutions on developments of novel yeast strains for completely new flavour profiles. • Setup/running of the NPD/quality lab, writing of laboratory SOPs, conducting analysis e.g. lab scale mashing, moisture etc.• Sensory analysis of new make spirit.• Organise raw materials deliveries and by product collection. • Formulation of new blends of existing products to be filled into the relevant finishing casks. Sensory analysis of new liquids for substitution in into existing blends. • Managing/implementing process improvements e.g. bioreactor project, heat recovery project, boiler upgrade project, FEMAS project.• Brain storming solutions to production problems e.g. pin hole in still, lautering issues.• Operation of the Brewhouse and Stillhouse.• Managing of retention samples, spirit/raw materials.• Conduct VIP technical tours/tastings of the distillery.• Supervise the distilling team and hiring of new team members.



C&C Group

• United Kingdom
• Food & Beverages
• 300 - 400 Employee

• Brewer

  • Sep 2014 - Dec 2015

  • Responsible for all aspects of the brewery from raw material ordering, brewing, fermentation, clarification, maturation, filtration until transfer of beer from bright beer tank to packaging lines.• Performs all brewery beer analysis, pH, density, alcohol, bitterness, Haze, colour, DO, CO2.• Perform brewhouse optimisation trials on kettle finings rates, pitching rates, oxygenation etc. • Keeping of all brewing records and documentation.• Preparation of duty report for customs and excise.• Recipe development.• Troubleshoot production problems and formulate solutions.• Perform maintenance on all brewery equipment.• Investigate out of specification results.• Modification of brewery pipework. • Brewhouse software is brewology but also run the brewhouse manually without the use of any automated programs. • CIP of brewhouse, vessels, centrifuge, filters and beer lines both manually and from CIP control set.• Gold medal and champion beer winner at international brewing awards for best Lager.



Heriot-Watt University

• United Kingdom
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• MSc Brewing & Distilling

  • Sep 2013 - Sep 2014



Eurofins

• Luxembourg
• Biotechnology Research
• 700 & Above Employee

• QC Micro analyst

  • Apr 2012 - Sep 2013

  • Environmental monitoring of plant sterile pharmaceutical manufacturing facility including ISO8, ISO7, ISO5 rooms and process/ non-process barriers• Environmental monitoring of plant biotechnology facility including ISO8, ISO7 rooms and ISO5 BSCs• Environmental monitoring of plant process gases including process air, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.• Logging and processing of all samples via Darwin LIMS system and smartlab programs. • Daily temperature checks of fridges and incubators• Conductivity testing of process waters• Endotoxin testing of process waters. Colorimetric and turbidimetric methods.• Endotoxin testing of product/media and buffer samples.• Bioburden testing of process waters, product, media, buffers and raw materials.• TOC testing of plant process waters, rinse samples and swab samples.• Environmental PQ monitoring of sterile pharmaceutical building for up coming new drug manufacturing • Inspire award recipient for completion of environmental PQ ahead of schedule allowing startup process to continue ahead schedule. • Deviation reduction team member. • Managing of stock for the micro labs



Merck Life Science

• Germany
• Biotechnology Research
• 700 & Above Employee

• QC micro analyst

  • May 2011 - Aug 2011

  Daily sampling of plant process waters and performing LAL assay.• Sampling/LAL testing of validation waters and ordering of sterilizations to be carried out if required• Preperation of LAL membrane sample and subsequent testing of finished product membrane and LAL testing of milliflex filtration devices• Perform daily lab checks included pipette checks, balance, ph meter etc.• Making of various media used in the lab e.g. 0.1% peptone, SLB etc.• Making of sterifils for the use in retention testing. • Environmental monitoring of cleanrooms.• Daily Autoclaving of waste materials and media preps.



Stryker

• United States
• Medical Equipment Manufacturing
• 700 & Above Employee

• QA Microbiologist

  • Sep 2007 - Sep 2008

  • FDA Remediation cleaning validation project sampling plan co-ordinator• Ran plant Environmental Monitoring Program. Duties included Performing all environmental monitoring of cleanrooms, cleanlines and labs Reviewing and trending all environmental monitoring results and cleaning logs Reviewing, revising environmental monitoring SOPs and implementing changes accordingly Raising of Sterility assurance incidence reports and investigating causes and solutions when out of specification results were seen. Ensure all microbial waste is disposed of appropriately • Organising of supporting Microbiological/Chemical testing e.g. Cytotoxicity, Lal, bioburden, organic residuals when needed e.g. new product launch/sterility incident.• Day to day maintenance of the Microbiological systems including sampling, assessment of controls and purchase of consumables and calibration/validation of equipment.• Training Manufacturing Team Members on the performance of Microbial monitoring.• Implemented new cleanroom gmp training. • Performance of Manufacturing Cell and Internal audits.• Participated in QA meetings to troubleshoot quality issues.• Auditing of external Microbiological testing facilities.• Organising of Gamma radiation sterilisation with Isotron. Organising of high/low gamma sterility dose audits and qualification of gamma dose indicators.