Florida beer maker Funky Buddha sells to Constellation Brands

Another one bites the dust, this time to Corona:

"It’s long been hinted at, but now it’s finally real: Funky Buddha has been sold.

In a press release sent out Thursday morning, Constellation Brands, Inc. announced its purchase of South Florida-based Funka Buddha Brewery, one of the largest and fastest-growing breweries in the state.

Best-known today for flavor-infused brews like Maple Bacon Coffee Porter, Last Snow coconut coffee porter and No Crusts, a peanut butter and jelly brown ale, Funky Buddha was founded in Boca Raton in 2010 as Funky Buddha Lounge & Brewery by husband and wife Ryan and Giani Sentz. The Sentz family opened Funky Buddha Brewery in Oakland Park in 2013. We named it a brewery to watch soon after.

“We chose to partner with Constellation because we saw an alignment in vision and felt they gave us the greatest opportunity for growth and development,” Funky Buddha Head Brewer and President Ryan Sentz said in the release. “Constellation and Funky Buddha share a lot of the same ideals and passion for philanthropy, entrepreneurship and the art of craft beer. At the end of the day, we just really like the people we have met within the organization, each of whom share our dedication to making outstanding beer.”

Constellation is the third-largest beer company in the U.S., with a portfolio that includes the Modelo, Pacifico and Corona brands. You may recall that the company purchased San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing Co. for the lofty sum of $1 billion in 2015. The terms of the Funky Buddha purchase were not disclosed.

Constellation’s and Funky Buddha’s team of employees will continue to work together, with Ryan and KC Sentz running the day-to-day operations, according to the release."

draftmag.com

Funky Buddha Lounge and Brewery sold to Robot Brewing Company

With its burnt sienna walls and blissed-out attitude, the Funky Buddha Lounge and Brewery seemed like an anomaly when it opened 12 years ago as a hookah bar that brewed beer in an obscure strip mall in upscale Boca Raton.

The place where Oakland Park’s Funky Buddha Brewery cut its teeth as a nanobrewery, and where legions of craft-beer drinkers first flocked to guzzle its beloved “dessert” beers, has been sold to upstart Robot Brewing Company.

Funky goes national: Oakland Park brewery sold, but taproom vibe to stay the same
The decision to sell Funky Buddha’s original home did not come easily to co-owner Ryan Sentz, who last August also sold his Oakland Park brewery to Corona beer giant Constellation Brands Inc. In a Thursday afternoon Facebook post, Sentz admitted that selling the lounge after selling its big sibling last summer felt “incredibly difficult.”

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