Ep. 188 - Ryan Sentz of Funky Buddha Brewery

Ryan Sentz is here this week to talk about how he and his brother bought back Funky Buddha, the Florida Brewery they sold to Constellation Brands six years ago. 

There’s an interesting trend happening in beer these days. Small breweries that had sold to larger brewing companies are regaining their independence. The founders of Three Weavers in California re-purchased the brewery from Fireman Capital. 21st Amendment Brewery ended it’s agreement with Brooklyn Brewery. And in the last month we’ve seen Appalachian Mountain Breweryfounders purchase the brewery back from Anheuser-Busch InBev and Florida’s Funky Buddha going independent after a purchase from Constellation Brands. 

Ryan Sentz, a co-founder of the brewery is my guest this week and he talks me through the early days of the brewery, the decision to sell in the first place and what life and business was like under Constellation. 

Constellation made a push into the craft space a few years ago with the splashy and billion dollar purchase of Ballast Point followed by Funky Buddha. The acquisition did not go as planned and after some devaluations Constellation sold Ballast Point to Kings and Convicts. 

At that point, Sentz, who stayed on with Funky Buddha, knew that the brewery he founded could be next. He and his brother KC decided to make the move to re-acquire their brewery. 

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• Host: John Holl
• Guest: Ryan Sentz
• Sponsors: All About Beer
• Tags: Beer, History, Business, Homebrewing, Creativity, Florida