Our Story
Our Story
3Flags – From derelict pottery workshop, to East Cork’s newest and only craft brewery!
The name says it all. Mike, an American, Julia, a German, and their new life in Ireland starting in 2021. 3Flags is a nod to the three places that shaped them.
It also happens to match Mike’s three favourite beers: Irish Stout, American Pale, and German Hefeweizen.
Following two successful careers (Julia’s finance and CFO successes in German industry and Mike’s 30 years with the US Army), they decided to trade desk jobs for something more hands on. That became two ventures under one roof: Kilmahon House Guest Accommodations (www.kilmahon.com), and soon, 3Flags brewing.
The brewery is being built in a former pottery workshop at Kilmahon House, right beside the couple's home. The building was derelict when they bought the property in 2022 2021. It has since been rebuilt from the ground up, and the brewing equipment is next. Initially, 3Flags will launch with three beers: Irish Stout, American Pale, and German Hefeweizen. That is expected to quickly expand to include Lagers, IPAs, and barrel aged/blended beers.
First beers are planned for spring 2027, and we'd love you to be part of the journey.
Meet the Brewer:
Hailing from Michigan, Mike’s career took him to Chicago, Houston, and Germany (not including past deployments). Mike’s brewing obsession began in 2012 while stationed in Germany. His fiancée at the time, Julia, gifted him a home brewing course in Munich and served both as translator and taster. He immediately bought the instructor’s 30 liter Brumas Brauele brewing system and never looked back. Obtaining the respect of local German friends for his Hefeweizen, Kolsch, and Keller Biers was no easy tasks and led him to advance brewing training in Berlin at the Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei in Berlin (VLB) e.V. or ‘VLB-Berlin’ for short.
During that German journey, his passion for the brewing craft grew and expanded to the history of beer and its complicated relationship with the human experience throughout recorded time. Spanning a time frame well before Egyptian pyramids to the American Revolution, beer was there and played a vital role. From French and Belgium Saisons, the English Porter, to the Irish stout, each beer has its story (and taste) of when, where, why, and how each style came into existence. When Mike brews a German Hefeweizen, rest assured he’s brewing not only with local ingredients (and correct strains of yeast, hops, and grain native to the Bavaria region), but that he is brewing in accordance to the Reinheitsgebot or German beer purity laws dating back to the year 1516. American Pale Ales, on the other hand, are recent modern (circa late 1970’s) inventions offering an opportunity to experiment with brewing techniques and ingredients.