On a sunny day in February 2020 I walked into Two Buoys bistro and asked to speak to the manager. The bartender pointed towards a skinny guy with black hair, who I walked up to with an air of confidence. I was sure a place like this wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to stock our beers, but alas, 5 seconds into the conversation, Jesse (owner at Two Buoys) turned me down with a polite but starkly abrupt “sorry mate, we’re not interested right now”.

It’s not easy being turned away from a place which you believe is a great match for your products, and very often, such rejections used to lead me to quite a few days of pondering the possible reasons for which I, and by proxy, Huskie, would have been turned down. In Jesse’s case, it took me a few months before I felt I could approach him with another offer.

On another bright and sunny day, I entered the bright sunny restaurant of Two Buoys, walked up to Jesse and reminded him that a few months ago he had declined to stock our beers, but this time I was here to offer him something more.

“Would Two Buoys like to be the first establishment which Huskie would create an exclusive recipe for?”, I asked. “We could brainstorm the recipe together and brew a beer to suit the restaurant’s particular mix of cuisine.” Jesse took to the idea straight away, and with excitement levels high, I rushed to call Miguel to tell him that he was to brew an Australia-inspired craft beer. 

And so, our collaboration with Two Buoys began. In a few weeks, we delivered the first kegs of Down Under to them, with the feedback from both staff and customers being overwhelmingly positive. A Tropical Pale Ale, we brewed Down Under using exclusively Australian hops, created a bright straw coloured beer and a moderate 4.5% ABV.