Funky Buddha to Bottle No Crusts as Part of Its 2018 Release Schedule

For the first time ever, Funky Buddha Brewery will release its award-winning peanut butter and jelly brown ale, No Crusts, in bottles this year as part of a new release schedule.

The Oakland Park-based production brewery will also begin canning its core beers alongside a new lineup that will also include new packaging, a new year-round beer, and a new year's worth of limited and seasonal beers hitting statewide distribution for the first time.

"The biggest change for us moving forward is going to be switching over from bottles to cans," says John Linn, Funky Buddha's marketing director. "Being here in Florida, with all the outdoor activities, it's going to be great to now have our most popular core brands in cans."

In February, Funky Buddha will release its Hop Gun IPA, Pineapple Beach blonde ale, and Floridian Hefeweizen in 12-ounce cans. Also, the new Vibin’ IPA, described as a "crushable India pale ale offering tropical flavor and aroma thanks to plenty of late-addition citra and mosaic hops," will replace the brand's double IPA, Hop Stimulator, as a core brew beginning in March.

The brewery's limited core lineup will now include two biannual releases. No Crusts, which won a silver medal at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival, will be released in 12-ounce bottles for the first time in April, along with Funky Buddha's coconut and coffee porter, Last Snow.
"I'm most excited for the bottling of No Crusts," Linn says. "Fans have been asking for bottles of No Crusts for a long time, so we're excited to have the opportunity to not only provide them with No Crusts, but also Last Snow, releasing twice in 12-ounce bottles this year."

Funky Buddha will also highlight its Goodness Series via several seasonal release beers while bidding farewell to several longtime favorites, such as Blueberry Cobbler and Sweet Potato Casserole. Each new beer will be offered in three-month intervals in four-pack 12-ounce bottles and also available on draft in the taproom.

That includes Key Lime Pie Tart, a tart wheat ale brewed with key lime juice and vanilla; Sticky Treats, a rice blonde ale with vanilla that tastes like Rice Krispies Treats; and French Toast, a double brown ale with maple syrup and cinnamon. Linn's favorite, the all-new Huki Idol Tropical IPA, is one of the brewery's experimental picks. The tiki-cocktail-inspired double IPA is brewed with passionfruit and lime juice and is dry-hopped with Mosaic hops and real mint.
Fans of the brewery's beers in the Buddha Small Batch Series and Living Barrel Series will be excited to hear both will return in 2018 with several new brews, two of which — the I Want It Now! tropical gose and Save Some Room for Later German chocolate cake double brown ale — were first released during the brewery's 2017 anniversary.

In 2018, expect to find the Buddha Small Batch 22-ounce bottles released bimonthly, including Maple Bacon Coffee Porter; the Black Currant Tripel Lindy Belgian-style tripel infused with black currants; and I'm So Excited, I'm So Scared, an imperial stout with coffee and vanilla.

The Living Barrel Series, the brewery's 1-year-old barrel-aging program, will continue with beers aged in a variety of casks, including wine, whiskey, rum, and tequila. Each barrel-aged beer will be released in 22-ounce bottles and on draft.

Releases will include the popular Last Buffalo in the Park bourbon-barrel-aged imperial version of Last Snow; Morning Wood, a bourbon-barrel-aged imperial maple-bacon-coffee porter; and Mexican Coffee, a tequila-barrel-aged imperial stout with coffee and cinnamon. The Love Below, an imperial stout double-aged in Cabernet and bourbon barrels with cherries and chocolate, will be a new addition to the barrel-aging series.

"This year will be exciting," Linn says. "It's more beer available to more people for the first time."

Funky Buddha Brewery. 1201 NE 38th St., Oakland Park; 954-440-0046; funkybuddhabrewery.com.