That was back when the Exeter butcher had no idea about the bravado behind sausage king competitions.

Five years and a lot of ground meat and intestine casing later, wife Catherine now thinks he’s more of a snag these days.

‘‘We sort of heard it was on at a state level a bit and for a while we never thought we’d enter into these competitions because you wonder if you’re up to the level of it,’’ he said.

‘‘You are always a bit scared to test your product against everyone else.’’

Now the 37-year-old is proving to be the heir apparent to the sausage crown.

He returned this week with two silver medals – in the pork and gourmet sausage categories – from the Australian Meat Industry Council’s national titles in Brisbane.

This follows four gold performances at the state qualifiers and a national gold last year for his tasty poultry number.

Still smoking after his top gongs, Birrell pinches himself over his meteoric rise as one of Australia’s best sausage makers at the national sausage king competition.

‘‘You try not to get your hopes too much built up,’’ he said.

‘‘When you get there, all the flavours are all top notch, the best around the country.

‘‘You just need a little bit of luck because it can go any way.’’

The recent successes have also forced his butchery to expand its operations into Launceston, including buying a factory to keep up with demand.

‘‘For the number of sausages and products we are making these days, we needed to probably spread ourselves a little bit further and a little bit bigger [than Exeter],’’ he said.