Brewery Visit – Funky Buddha

(In the spirit of fairness, I took this tour before I started the blog. I figured now’s as good a time as any to put it up, though.)

So, Funky Buddha. Originally a microbrew/restaurant, but they later opened a nice brewing/taproom facility in Oakland Park, Fl., not too far from me. I actually discovered them through another restaurant (shout out to Green Bar & Kitchen). It was an idle Saturday, so my wife and I decided to check it out.

The taproom/brewery is in a brand new facility that appears to be part of an urban renewal campaign by the city (later confirmed by our brewer). To be honest, it looks fantastic. A personal favorite of mine is its proximity to a set of tracks that is still in use. It’s a wonderful thing to be relaxing in their taproom, feeling the train shake the building as it goes by.

Tours are generally Saturday afternoons. It’s $5 and you get a Funky Buddha pint glass, so that’s enough reason to take the tour right there. If you’ve taken one brewery tour, you generally know what to expect. Their facility is cavernous, albeit probably a bit smaller since they’ve added three huge new tanks since we went. Naturally (as is want with a good brewery tour), there were samples along the way. In Funky Buddha’s case, it was some of their standards. A great way to get an ide of the basics of their operation:

OP Porter – Named for Oakland Park, this is a smooth, malty, slightly robust but well rounded porter. Immensely drinkable.

Hop Gun – Their standard IPA. It’s good for an IPA, but I am not a great fan of IPAs. I find that IPAs get all the great names, though.

Floridian – Their hefeweizen and one fantastic beer. Tons of light, citrusy notes and easily approachable even for non-beer drinkers. And I swear I could taste circus peanuts. We took a growler of this home.

French Oak Aged Hop Gun – A bonus 4th beer from our tour. We were supposed to drink this in their giant walk-in cooler, but that’s a giant walk-in cooler and it’s just too cold. Anyway, I am a big fan of wood aged beers and this is no exception. It brings a great change to the Hop Gun.

We retired to the taproom for a sampler, since Funky Buddha has quite the good lineup of beers they rotate with regularity:

Trippel Lindy – Again with the fun names. I love dubbel/tripel ales, and this is no exception. Robust, well-rounded, and very, very drinkable.

Casbah Brown – It’s a good standard English Pub Brown. Very Newcastle-y.

Missionary Blonde Ale – American Blonde Ale. Standard and crisp, but pales when you put it next to something as awesome as Floridian.

Say WAT? – Another Blonde Ale, another standard. Nothing especially groundbreaking.

Funky Buddha is a good time. It’s a nice location, they have a great range of beers, and one of them happens to be one of my new favorite wheat beers. That being said, Funky Buddha tends to be known for their sweeter, dessert-inspired beers. That, however, will be for another post.

Proust!

Chris
Floridabeerblog@gmail.com