Funky Buddha's Ryan Sentz Apologizes for Last Night's Lines

Is the popularity of Funky Buddha Brewery too much to handle for staff and local beer geeks?

The short answer is no.

But when events get snarled, it becomes a learning experience for everyone involved. This was especially true last night at a growler release of a coveted and limited-release beer from the Oakland Park brewery.

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It was touted all week by the brewery: sixty 32-ounce growlers of Last Snow, limit one per person, starting at 7 p.m.

Lines for acquiring a full growler of the beer started fairly early, with a few mentioning almost 90 minutes of waiting. By the time the tickets to purchase the growlers were handed out, it became evident to those involved that a lot of people would go home empty-handed.

Buddha's head buddha, Ryan Sentz, made a quick decision to throw on another keg of the beer to try to satiate the desires of thirsty patrons. Though looking to provide as much as he could, the night still didn't sit well with him, so he issued the following statement over social media.

So tonight clearly did not go as smoothly as we would have liked. Long lines, long waits and service that does not meet our standards. When I heard of the long lines and possibility of some of those in line not actually getting a growler of last snow, I made a knee jerk decision. I told the staff to grab another keg to make sure everyone in line, was able to get a growler. Problem was that it took 2 more people out of service (on admittedly an understaffed night to begin with) which meant service was even slower.

This is unacceptable to us. We recognize it and promise that any future special growler releases will run much better.

Funky Buddha continued to be apologetic, even among the overwhelmingly positive feedback from fans.

"The format of our bottle releases, we feel, works very well," the brewery stated. "We probably need to start doing something like that for our very sought-after growlers too. We'll work on it!"

Doug Fairall is a craft beer blogger who focuses on Florida beers and has been a homebrewer since 2010. For beer things in your Twitter feed, follow him @DougFairall and find the latest beer pics on Clean Plate's Instagram.