Earlier this month, Funky Buddha cofounders and brothers Ryan and KC Sentz introduced they might retake possession of the corporate they offered in 2017 to Constellation Brands. The acquisition is anticipated to be official later this month, simply earlier than the brothers ring within the brewery’s tenth anniversary.
For the brothers, the transfer to require the Oakland Park-based brewery is all about timing.
“It was the right time for us back in 2017 to sell,” KC tells New Times. “We learned a lot, and we feel it’s the right time to reacquire. Craft brewing was booming, with major corporations investing in independent breweries. However, there has been a recent shift in focus. Our passion now is to craft unique and exciting brews.”
In 2010, husband-and-wife Ryan and Giani Sentz founded Funky Buddha Lounge & Brewery in Boca Raton. KC and his wife Melissa joined the business as demand for their beers grew. Tired of the standard offerings, the group took matters into their brewhouse, whipping up a flavorful lineup of unconventional beer styles.
Several years later, in 2013, the brothers expanded to open a full-scale production brewery in Oakland Park. The first of its kind in Broward County, the brewery offered an in-house kitchen and food menu alongside more than 20 taps pouring the brand’s unique libations.
When the Sentz’s sold Funky Buddha to Constellation, part of the deal was to stay involved in brewery operations. The brothers share that while they’ve remained active behind the scenes for the past six years, recently they felt compelled to return to their core passion and original mission to push their boundaries.
“We want to go beyond craft beer,” says KC, including that distribution will probably be restricted to Florida for now. “It’s time to enhance our consumer experiences with fresh and interesting offerings.”
“It’s an thrilling time within the beverage business, and there’s a lot of innovation throughout beer, wine, and spirits,” provides Ryan. “We’re excited to be nimble again and expand our portfolio of beer brands and extend our creativity into new categories. We plan to create entirely new drinking experiences in beer and beyond.”
Funky Buddha founders KC (left) and Ryan Sentz rejoice the brewery’s Maple Bacon Coffee Porter Day in 2016.
Funky Buddha Brewery photograph
The Sentzs are one in every of simply a handful of breweries to have offered their model to bigger firms and later retake possession.
Earlier this month, the proprietor of North Carolina-based Appalachian Mountain Brewery repurchased the brewery from Anheuser-Busch. Alongside Funky Buddha, they be a part of Three Weavers Brewing founder Lynn Weaver, who repurchased her model from Fireman Capital in 2021 following a 2018 sale, in addition to Shaun O’Sullivan, the brewer and founding father of twenty first Amendment Brewery, who lately purchased again a minority stake from Brooklyn Brewery, which purchased into his California-based brewery in 2017.
Moving ahead, followers of Funky Buddha can anticipate to see some issues keep the identical. The duo guarantees to proceed celebrating Funky’s three most important festivals with their anniversary bash, Oktoberfest, and Maple Bacon Coffee Porter Festival.
“But we’re additionally excited to proceed our partnership with the Florida Panthers and can institute a number of adjustments on the brewery’s Oakland Park taproom,” provides Ryan.
The brothers say they’re at present working with a number of native artists to create customized murals for the inside and exterior of the constructing along with new artwork installations to assist breathe new life into the area, whereas the sport room will see an improve with new ping pong tables, foosball, pinball, and extra.
Behind the bar, friends can nonetheless discover acquainted Funky Buddha favorites alongside a rising variety of new manufacturers, starting with this weekend’s anniversary beer and bottle launch.
To commemorate Funky Buddha’s ten-year milestone, the brewery kicked off a ten-day sequence of occasions final week, a celebration that culminates with a daylong anniversary get together on Saturday, June 10. During the festivities, Funky Buddha will launch a large 60-plus beer faucet listing that includes the model’s most beloved beers alongside a trio of latest releases obtainable on draft and in to-go packaging.
KC and Ryan say they wished to create one thing particular for his or her tenth anniversary, starting with “Confetti Cuddles,” a cake-inspired, rum barrel-aged imperial cream ale layered flavors of almond, coconut, and vanilla, packaged in a vanilla-scented waxed 22-ounce bottle.
Additional new beers embrace “Coconut Cream Pie,” a hazy IPA with coconut, vanilla, and lactose sugar obtainable in 12-ounce bottle 4 packs, and “Bob’s Backyard,” a mango and habanero blonde ale additionally obtainable in 12-ounce bottle 4 packs.
Outside of beer, Ryan and KC say they’re desperate to broaden their footprint to incorporate spirits.
“Right now, we’re exploring the addition of a distillery onto our Oakland Park facility,” provides KC. “We’ll even be rolling out new meals, cocktail, and beer menus with seasonal choices — even a small canning line to permit us to launch small batch runs by way of our taproom,” sums up KC. “We’re excited to share with the group all of the thrilling adjustments we’ve got been engaged on, from new meals and cocktail menus to progressive merchandise past beer.”
Funky Buddha Brewery. 1201 NE thirty eighth St., Oakland Park; 954-440-0046; funkybuddhabrewery.com.