Maybe you're one of the 155 Funky Buddha Brewing Founders' Club members and all of this is old news to you. But for everyone else, you've probably noticed a stream of Facebook and Instagram posts of friends with excited faces and blue bottles in hand.
This past weekend saw the release, for the few-but-passionate Founders Club members, of the first in a series of limited-release beers by Funky Buddha Brewery in Oakland Park: Veruca Snozzberry Gose. It is a unique beer, especially to kick off the bottling program at the Buddha. A 5.2 percent gose-styled beer brewed with sea salt and coriander and tropical fruit added to it. John Linn, brand director for the brewery, told us, "We picked a gose because we wanted the bottle to be a sour beer, but we wanted to do a slightly different take on one, something maybe a bit more uncommon. We fruited it with a blend of tropical fruit, so the result was both fruity and slightly salty, which was interesting."
See also: In the Tasting Room: Funky Buddha's Floridian Hefeweizen
For those unfamiliar with the style, a gose is a sour- and saline-tasting ale, made from more than half malted wheat and the rest malted barley. According to the German Beer Institute, the brew is fermented with regular brewers yeast and lactic bacteria and is spiced with coriander and hops. It is also brewed with slightly salted water. It's a beer that is crisp, dry, almost mouth-puckering, and very refreshing.
Unfortunately for those who aren't a Founder, unless you can make a some beer trades for it, don't expect to be able to sample this beer anytime soon. We asked if there was any way for the beer plebs to get their hands on it. "The run was extremely limited and designed for Founders only," Linn said. "So sadly, no!"
But have no fear, because at least on January 11, everyone will have the opportunity to play the Hunger Games for bottles of the ever-popular Maple Bacon Coffee Porter. "Our first public bottle release will be on January 11 with Maple Bacon Coffee Porter, and it will be a daylong festival with live music, food trucks, and plenty of beer. We hope to release bottles much more regularly, perhaps on a monthly basis."
As always, Funky Buddha Brewing continues to push the culinary boundaries with its beers and shows no signs of stopping the experimentations. Keep abreast of its creations at funkybuddhabrewery.com or on its constantly updated Facebook page.
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