Funky Buddha Announces Expansion, Aims to Increase Brewing Capacity by Eightfold

A year has not quite passed since the grand opening of the Funky Buddha Brewery in Oakland Park and owners K.C. and Ryan Sentz announced yesterday that they will be expanding brewing capacity by eightfold.

Meanwhile, the anniversary party will be thrown on May 31 from noon to 10 p.m. with a daylong celebration of live music, local artists, food trucks, and dozens of specialty beers.

See also: Funky Buddha Celebrates One-Year Anniversary With Festival

The $3 million expansion will bring Funky Buddha's brewing capacity from 5,000 to 16,000 barrels. However, the brewery's goal is to max out at 40,000 barrels annually.

Five new 120-barrel tanks will be added, three of which will be used exclusively to produce Funky Buddha's flagship beers, Floridian Hefeweizen and Hop Gun IPA. Two are slated to arrive in July. The tanks are coming from Metalcraft Fabrication in Portland, Oregon.

A custom-designed bottling line will also be added. Arriving from CFT in Reggio Emilia, Italy, the machinery will be able to package beer at a rate of 100 bottles per minute. This also means that Funky Buddha will begin bottling its beer, which will be available at retailers throughout South Florida. For distribution, the brewery has signed with Brown Distributing Co.

The bottle launch will include six-packs of Floridian Hefeweizen, Hop Gun India Pale Ale, and Crusher Session IPA, and No Crusts Peanut Butter and Jelly Brown Ale and Sweet Potato Casserole will be released bimonthly in four-packs.

See Also: Funky Buddha Announces Collaboration With Dogfish Head Brewery

To house all of this new equipment, the brewery signed a lease for an additional 21,000 square feet of space adjacent to the original brewery that will also include new offices and cold storage.

Along with the expansion, the brewery is expected to add ten more jobs to its staff.

Funky Buddha started as a small Boca Raton brewpub in 2010, becoming a highly rated South Florida brewery. The 2014 Rate Beer Best named Funky Buddha among the top 100 breweries in the world, while Maple Bacon Coffee Porter, the release of which drew more than 4,000 people to the brewery. The Funky Buddha Lounge in Boca still exists in its original location and is a popular destination for locals and beer hunters alike.

See Also: Funky Buddha Brewery Announces First Ever Maple Bacon Coffee Porter Bottle Release and Festival

"We are so humbled that the community here in South Florida has embraced us so much," says Head Brewer and co-owner Ryan Sentz. "It's important to me that we continue to focus on quality and innovation and ultimately do right by our customers."

Send feedback to David Minsky on Twitter and Instagram