The beer had only been flowing again for a week when the owners of Two Mates Brewing were forced to pack up for the second time in a month under threat of major flooding.
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An emotional Grant Smith, who owns the business with Andrew Newton and their families, was at home pondering the next move after spending the afternoon and evening packing up after an evacuation order was issued.
"It's like Groundhog day," Mr Smith said. "It's a bit overwhelming. We haven't had the chance to process the last four weeks yet.
"This just puts on extra pressure, emotionally and financially."
He said the culmination of "two years of hard work and pain" to get compliance to open in South Lismore, then to be hit by an unprecedented flood, then to face another major flood four weeks later was surreal.
Mr Grant said they had pushed hard to reopen for two reasons, to provide an income for their families, to thank the community for its support, and to provide a space for the community to gather and recover.
"We thought it was important.
"A lot of business owners and residents came to the opening night, it was a time for people to talk."
He said they were still waiting for assessment by insurers, but acknowledged there were a lot of people in the same boat, waiting for assistance.
"The continued weather and continued flood makes it a little bit harder for people.
But, the owners of Two Mates Brewing are eternally optimistic.
"At the end of the day, it's important as a business operator (to reopen)," Mr Grant said.
"Our two families are fully invested in Lismore.
"We hope we get the help we need to survive. The community needs us, and we need the community.
"I hope everyone can look past comments around rebuilding the town, get past the scepticism, and look forward to the future and, as we've done before, rebuild and regrow once again."
The Two Mates crew had set up a temporary tap house in recent days.
It was only open limited hours but was a big step towards recovery.
"We would also like to thank everyone who was involved in allowing us to do this so quickly," they said on Facebook.
"Whilst the rebuild of our facility continues to return our operations to be bigger and better, we will be operating on limited hours to allow the community to enjoy a space whilst the rebuild of Lismore continues."
Two Mates is located in Engine Street, South Lismore.
It says it was born from a "love of family and friendship", and is one of the newest additions to the Lismore business community.
We hope we get the help we need to survive. The community needs us, and we need the community
- Grant Smith
