North Carolina has been the fortunate recipient recently of a number of breweries who have expanded their distribution footprint into the Southeast. Cigar City and Firestone Walker have started sharing their lineup and the next one sharing their bottles, cans, and taps is none other than Funky Buddha Brewery from Oakland Park Florida, just north of Fort Lauderdale. In the Stout world I live in, Funky Buddha is known for their tasty Stouts and Porters:
- Maple Bacon Coffee Porter
- Last Snow
- Last Buffalo in the Park
- Morning Wood
- Nib Smuggler
- Wide Awake It’s Morning
- I’m so Excited, I’m Scared
- The Love Below
- Mexican Coffee
- Snowed In
- Nikolai Vorlauf
…..and a few others that make a guest appearance from time to time! They have a 
great Barrel-Aging program and have a great knack for dialing in their adjuncts to perfection! I’ve been fortunate enough to take most (but not all) of the above and I’ve been very impressed with the entire lineup! I’ve had to trade for most of these and I’m thrilled to know that many of these will find their way to my local bottleshops and taprooms! My guess is that FB will start with sending Maple Bacon Coffee Porter and Last 
Snow up north to us (as well as some of their non-Stout/Porter lineup) and will expand to their Barrel Aged Stouts and Porters depending on sales and volume.
I just enjoyed the 2018 vintage of Maple Bacon 
Coffee Porter and it truly is a memorable beer….the maple aroma lasts for a good while and it’s truly deserving of all of the accolades it has received over the years! The Funky Buddha brew crew appears to have the recipe down just right!
I hope that Funky Buddha makes a splash in North Carolina and puts it’s best foot forward in their market introduction. Tap Takeovers, tastings, and other special events will be critical in the fight for shelf space in what is a very competitive marketplace in North Carolina. Local, 
regional, and national brewers are all vying for our wallets and cellar space and Funky Buddha certainly has the Stout/Porter lineup to grab a healthy share!
Here’s to a successful launch for Funky Buddha in North Carolina! The Stoutwhisperer is looking forward to seeing MBCP and Last Snow on the shelves in North Carolina….but make sure and bring some Morning Wood and Last Buffalo as well!
What breweries are you hoping would expand into your market? Let me know the brewery and where you are at and perhaps we can reach out and see what can be done!
Mississippi River via UPS and FedEx via the lively trading community. One brewery that I’ve kept my eye on has been 
For the 2018 vintage, Smog City bottled approximately 1900 bottles which is about 800 less than last years vintage. What’s new this year is that they are releasing two variants, Cinnamon Vanilla Infinite Wishes and Hazelnut and Cocoa Nibs Infinite Wishes! After tasting Infinite Wishes, I can only imagine how incredible these two variants taste!
After my Infinite Wishes experience, I couldn’t wait to dive into The Nothing, Smog City’s Double Chocolate Imperial Stout. I enjoy dark chocolate and the label descriptions and the reviews really intrigued me. Upon opening The Nothing, the escaping aroma was one of dark chocolate cocoa – not the sweet sugary kind, but the wonderful scent of dark unsweetened cocoa. Brewed with “darkly roasted chocolate malts” and 2 types of cacao nibs, The Nothing is the darkest, blackest Stout I’ve ever seen. The pour of The Nothing is a sight to behold! The taste closely followed the
aroma, as the chocolate flavors really come forward from both the cacao nibs and the malts. The Nothing is really something! The Imperial Stout base with the chocolate malts combined with the cacao nibs create a luscious, alluring, black as night elixir that the Smog City Brewmasters should be proud of. As the phrase on the label states, “Don’t be afraid of the Dark!”
Not surprisingly, maple has become the adjunct du jour in the Stout world, and frankly, I’m thrilled. The addition of maple syrup to an Imperial Stout adds taste, complexity, a bit of sweetness and an amazing amount of aroma. It is very complementary to the traditional flavors you find in a Stout – and even complements the other popular adjuncts out there today – vanilla, coffee, cocoa, cinnamon, and even peppers!
became a cult classic. Founder’s released it again in 2014 in a very limited release, but reintroduced it this past fall worldwide to incredible fanfare. Another stout that pushed the maple envelope was Toppling Goliath’s Mornin’ Delight. First introduced in 2013, MD was one of the Stouts that has made Decorah, Iowa (home of Toppling Goliath) a must visit destination for any Stout lover. Others have quickly followed…can’t name them all, but maple has become a more frequent addition to the Stout world.
14th Star Brewing Co. with their Maple Breakfast Stout using Vermont Maple Syrup. I was impressed with how the maple syrup added to the complexity of the Stout and was hooked. Then I was able to pick up a Maple Bacon Coffee Porter from the good people at Funky Buddha in Florida and I was absolutely floored with 
how much maple was packed into their bottles…not to mention the BA version of MBCP, Morning Wood! Just wonderful! Add Michgan Maple Jesus from Evil Twin Brewing and I was on a maple mission! Fast forward to Mikkeller Maple Vanilla Shake and the maple aroma and taste were simply amazing……next came Maple Bourbon Double Negative from Grimm Artisan 
Ales, then the 2017 vintage of Founders CBS which added to the maple mystique, and then getting a rare opportunity to enjoy a Mornin’ Delight from Toppling Goliath just took my maple journey to another level!
Every once in a while, I get to leave the confines of my office and hit the road. I had to head up to Richmond, VA last week for a couple of days of meetings. Once I locked in my travel plans, I took a look at the numerous Richmond breweries and bottleshops. Richmond is quite a hotbed of craft beer these days, so there were many more places than I could visit during the little free time I would have during my time there. I mapped out the few on my must visit list that appeared to be on the way to north Richmond – Veil, Hardywood, and The Answer. On top of that, fortune was smiling upon me – Veil was releasing a new batch of Oreo Hornswoggler Chocolate Milk Stout on the Tuesday I would be driving up there. I was able to get a couple of cans of Peanut Butter Oreo Horns a few months ago and really enjoyed them. So having a release of Oreo Horns while I’m there was great news.
and out of Veil in 15 minutes with my Oreo Horns. The only downside was that I didn’t get a special token to get a limited edition Hornswoggler glass! (Note to the good people at Veil – I still would like a glass…). Since the visit was so efficient, I decided to head over to Hardywood, which is about a 10 minute drive from Veil. As it was with Veil, Hardywood was busy, but I was able to walk right to the counter and get a bottle of Christmas Morning, a bottle of Rum Barrel Gingerbread Stout and a nice matching Hardwood GBS 
glass. I was hoping to find Kentucky Christmas Morning, but they sold out of bottles a day or two prior…..and although they had KCM on tap, I passed and headed back to meet my dinner commitments.
was the picture on the left. There you see Bell’s Black Note Stout in quantity! Here in Raleigh, Black Note was a hot commodity at release, usually with a 1 per person allocation. Here in Richmond, it sits.
If anyone follows my Instagram or Twitter feeds, you’ll know that The Toll from 
There was food for all participants and everyone from Raleigh Brewing was available to chat – the Owners, the Brewers, and many of the staff.
other Raleigh Brewing brewers. I asked them about their plans for The Toll and where they were looking to take their franchise Stout. Specifically, I asked whether we would see any adjuncts (Coffee, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Coconut, etc.) in any upcoming releases. Scott’s focus on The Toll is to make it the best Stout they know how – no adjuncts. It’s clear that they know what is happening in the Stout world and they have no interest in duplicating what is already in the market. They want to standout and be a leader by focusing on their strengths.
flavor profile. That seemed to be a common theme in my discussions with other attendees.
nectar of barrel aged Stout (Big Bad Baptist), barrel aged coffee, and barrel aged coconut!! Yes, you read that right! Epic put shaved coconut into barrels and let the coconut absorb the flavors that barrels can impart over time. They also added some rum barrels into the aging process and the result is magic.
Next up is the Double Barrel Big Bad Baptist. It’s Big Bad Baptist with the addition of barrel aged coffee……coffee that’s been aged in whiskey barrels. A totally different flavor profile, more boozy and less sweet than Triple Barrel, as you might expect. However, I can taste more of the base stout than I could with the Triple Barrel. I 
suspect that’s what the Epic brewmasters were hoping for…very different flavor profiles across the Baptist family. Just what a family should be…..same stout heritage, but different personalities!