Flavor hunter

A range of craft beers with flavors from around the world: that's the challenge facing a former student of Montpellier's Institut des sciences de l'entreprise et du management...
How do you combine the desire to be an entrepreneur with a love of hops? For Arnaud Buffet, the answer is simple: by launching his own brand of beer. Having studied at Isem, he had everything he needed to build a business plan. His taste for a challenge did the rest. I've always been a beer lover," he says, "and at first I was just having fun brewing at home, but then I decided to change scale . That was the birth of " The Eye's Hunters ", a range of French craft beers with ingredients from all over the world.

A beer refermented with warana

The first beer in the range, Timbo was launched in summer 2012. Its distinctive feature: it's a beer made with Amazonian warana, the controlled name given to guarana. " Not flavored, but refermented with warana ", insists the young man. And not just any warana. The intensive cultivation of this berry is an ecological disaster, with manufacturers literally destroying the Amazon rainforest," insists Arnaud Buffet. Just as serious: they want to relocate the local Satéré-mawé tribe to exploit the warana ". So Arnaud, who is very committed to respecting the environment, decided to do things differently. To avoid participating in this devastation, he buys from responsible suppliers, in direct contact with the local tribal chief. "It' s proof that you can use rare ingredients and do it well," says Arnaud Buffet.

Rare ingredients can be used fairly

An ethical and eco-friendly approach crowned with success: today, Timbo can be found in over 200 points of sale in the South of France, including restaurants, wine bars, beer cellars and grocery stores. " Nearly 100,000 bottles were sold in 2014," enthuses the young entrepreneur, who is delighted to have won the recognition and trust of his partners.

Organic and fair-trade ingredients

And that's just the beginning: Arnaud Buffet and his partners are constantly scouring the world for organic, fair-trade ingredients to create new flavors. Their goal: to create a beer for each continent. Mission accomplished for Africa and Asia: the " The eye's hunter " family expanded in 2015 with the birth of Djembé, a white beer with hibiscus from Senegal, and Kâma, an amber beer with ginger from Sri Lanka. Next step for the young globe-trotting entrepreneur: " find the ingredients to concoct beverages for Europe and Oceania ". To complete his world tour of flavors.