UYE – “Welcome Back Michelangelo!” Party! @ Funky Buddha Brewery

It’s been awhile since I went to this fun UYE and I just realized I didn’t write a review. I first met Michelangelo at Unilocal’s Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale. With his captivating smile and unusual name he’s unforgettable. We crossed paths several times during Spring Break. He was always super friendly, a really nice person. He became my friend on Unilocal and I found myself reading his reviews. He’s a great writer. I especially enjoy reading his reviews of Unilocal events.
When I saw that Michelangelo was coming to BPB for a visit, and that Jennifer S had posted an UYE to welcome him, I knew Clyde and I would be there.
It was our first time at Funky Buddha. We had a great time. The Unilocalers shared two long tables with the guest of honor. I ordered a flight of four beers and there were two I would love to try again. I also had a delicious veggie burger.
Blue came in a short time after we got there. He ordered a few appetizers for the table which was a treat. Thanks Blue.
It was great seeing Michelangelo and sharing good food and drinks with friends. Thank you Jennifer for putting this event together. Let’s do it again the next time Michelangelo comes to town. I hope it will be soon.

Great idea Jenn S for a great UYE welcoming back the man from SAC Michelangelo! If ya cant get to cali you get cali to come here! The night kicked off and lasted well over the 2 hour time frame that was given… and who wanted to leave… none of us. We gathered around 2 huge tables and began drinking ½ price flights (thanks to Unilocal for the check in YLBW offer) and eating some great appetizers and sandwiches that are now available directly at FB. Yes, they now have a working kitchen which is a great addition! I squeezed in by Michael C and Diane and Clyde. I felt safe and was surrounded by great friends. I sure was glad not to have to walk outside and buy food from a food truck (nothing against them its just more convenient to just order from your server and eat!!) The place was really packed for a thirstday. i mean thursday night. Some of the great bites I got to sample were the fire roasted peppers, the chicken and gravy biscuit sandwich, the blue chips (thats crumpled blue cheese chunks over fresh cut potato chips and a big soft hot pretzel which had 4 different dipping sauces 2 sweet (honey and chocolate and 2 spicy a mustard and something that looked like drawn butter (i didnt try that one). All in all a great way to celebrate the return of Michelangelo and have some great beers .I especially enjoyed the crusher .it had an excellent taste!
Thanks for the extra appetizers Blue A .they hit the spot and thanks Jenn s for putting together an outstanding UYE!

Michelangelo, I am so happy that we pulled this UYE off successfully for your return to Broward Palm Beach, thanks to a great welcome that Jennifer set up here at Funky Buddha Brewery This week was perfect considering it is Unilocal Local Beer Week.
Wednesday and Thursday was definitely two days of FLIGHTS for you. One from Cali to Denver, the second from Denver to Ft. Lauderdale, and the rest? Well those were Thursday night here at Funky Buddha, yeah, those FLIGHTS at $ 4.50 a flight of 4 local craft beers from one of the first local breweries in Broward-​Palm Beach with a check in on Unilocal’s App of course.
Since we were not at the Unilocal Spring Break events where you stole the hearts of so many, I was really looking forward to meeting the infamous Michelangelo from Sacramento, and really glad I did. I totally understand why he loves it down here; you are one of us!!!
Thursday night was another example of a strong family we have in BPB. Every time we get together, no matter where it is, it seems more like family and I totally get why Michelangelo likes to come here; it’s his family too.
Once Jennifer and the girls showed up we found a nice table towards the back, and of course towards the back had to be the new Craft Food Counter. Not wanting to have everyone keep getting up for their beer flights, we kindly received great service from our server and he was able to pull off separate billing and get our flights and beer selections brought to the table. That really helped and he did a tremendous job. Jenn lead the pack and the foodie that she is was the first one up to the Craft Food Counter to bring back the Blistered Peppers, Blew Chips, Yucca Tots and the Cheese Palette. This was the first time here since the Craft Food Counter was put in, so I must put the word in for the Blistered Peppers. After hearing so much about the Chicken ‘N’ Bisquit, I went up next to pick that up and more Blistered Peppers and Chips. We all ordered different flights and trying to try some different beers that they had and it looked like the Raspberry Floridian and the Nib Smuggler seemed to win out. From there it was glass after glass.
A short rundown of food and drink because the most important part of the night, for me, was getting to know Michelangelo because it would be my only event left for the week since I was leaving for out of town and just wanted to get to know a little more about him. What a TRUE UnilocalER he is, not just the excitement of being down here, but loves Unilocal from where he comes from. I was curious as to how many communities there are in California so he explained a lot about how they were split up because the communities are so big out there.
THE SPEECH: Perfect timing for his speech. After two plane flights and how ever many flights he had at The Buddha, this «shy» individual, got up to show his love and appreciation for our community as he was trying to figure out if he loved Broward, Palm Beach or Both. In the end he finally spit it out, he loved both. Perfect timing for him because he was called upon by Unilocal corporate to go to headquarters Tuesday to the Unilocal’s Elite Feedback Fair to contribute feedback on how to improve the design and features on Unilocal’s sight. And here he was in Unilocal BPB, giving us a great opportunity to help him bring that information to headquarters «live», so hopefully we can get our chance to get our feedback to Cali, having him as our «representative» since he was here the week before.
It was a really great night also getting to hang out with each other again and I was able to meet some new people, Jenn’s friend, Janine, Vanessa’s sister Zaira and got to talk to Jorge more than usual. It was nice to see Julie being able to put down the camera a little bit more and relax and enjoy tonight as well. Of course what would the night be without Blue, the one who made all this happen. I know Michelagelo really appreciates the «welcome home» and it is great to see how Blue, you took him in to our community.
I really wish I could of spent more time being here for his visit especially winding down the Beer Week Saturday at the Sweet Ending Event: Blue, I saw that case of Nib Smuggler you «smuggled» out of Funky Buddha, and now I see why.
To my Unilocal BPB family if you read this before Saturday’s Sweet Ending Event: ENJOY!!! and to Michelangelo; See you at Spring Break and thanks for the love and your long trip down to Unilocal BPB!

I went to the UYE party at Funky Buddha with Diane. We met up with several wonderful Unilocaler friends to have a celebration for Michelantelo’s return to South Florida. I met him at the Unilocal Spring Break and I was touched at how sweet and wonderful he is. We became immediate friends as I am sure he is with most people he meets. I took a group photo for him at spring break which he loved and was kind enough to e-​mail me a thank you when he returned home. It was fabulous to see Michelangelo again. He apparently loves South Florida!
A lot of my Unilocaler friends were at the party. We sat with Nancy, she is always a tremendous amount of fun. Everyone there is crazy about Michelangelo. I enjoyed the great beer at Funky Buddha Brewery so much. They took us on a tour of the brewery– very entertaining!
We sat at a long table so we could all talk to Michelangelo. He is such a sweet man, everyone competed for his attention. The food and beers at Funky Buddha were fantastic. I had the On Top Blonde (the beer of course!) and the Bratwurst sandwich — both were teriffic!!! Diane had the veggie Burger and the Flight of 4 beers that I helped her with.
It was such a fabulous time eating, drinking and talking with our great Unilocal friends. It was a wonderful way to continue the holiday celebrations especially with Michelangelo there. The festive atmosphere reminded me of what a joy it is to be a Unilocal member and to be with my dear friends at Christmas time! I would mention everybody who was there but it would be practically an impossibility. I was particularly impressed with Blue taking the time to come as well as Nancy, Cherine, and Jennifer all of whom are always so nice to me. Not to mention my lovely wife, Diane, who always makes a party a joy for me. I just don’t know how I could have had a better time. I hope Michelangelo returns again soon so that we can have another tremendous party!!!

Michelangelo decided to come back to South Florida after seeing all of us for YSB ’15. He missed our crazy asses too much to stay away for any longer. Or is it just for the Unilocal’s Local Craft Beer Week? Hmm. We may never know ;) Haha! If it wasn’t for Michelangelo crashing our pad, this event would have never had happened and we probably would have been checking out other breweries getting some flights elsewhere.
There was a group about 20 of us that came out to welcome him back at Funky Budda last night. Thanks to Jennifer S. for organizing the UYE and getting us all together to have a Unilocalin’ good time along with a discount on beer flights. All of us were able to try one another’s food and beers at our tables and it was a great success. The raspberry Floridan beer and the griddled cheese sandwich were my favorites. If you want to find a more detailed review about the food and beers that I ordered last night, check it out here:
I love how this community has so much love for one another. There’s times that we don’t see each other for months or even years and we pick up like we saw each other yesterday. Even Blue, our fantastic CM, joined in on the fun! The staff was on top of things and we were able to enjoy each other on a radical Thursday night. I hope you’re feeling the love, Michelangelo. BAM!

Best.Of.Times.With.Yelp.BPB!
SITREP
Upon my return to Ft. Lauderdale and the home of Unilocal BPB, I was wonderfully surprised to be thrown an Universal Unilocal Event (UYE) in my honor. It honestly doesn’t get any better than this!
THE SETUP
Along those lines, it DOES seem a little awkward to be reviewing an UYE with name in the title, BUT I must give MAD PROPS to my incredibly awesome friend Jennifer S. for throwing & hosting this party AND for the sweetness herself, Ms. Janine A. for picking up my ass to come to the soirée!
DOIN DA FUNKY FUNKY BUDDHAAAAAAH!
And where did they cart my ass to?!? My favorite brewery stop during the 2015 Unilocal Spring Break — Ft. Lauderdale Weekend — THE FUNKY BUDDHA! It was outstanding to come here again!
And for me — the out-​of-​stater — it was fun to see the DRAMATIC transformation in remodeling and upgrades that have taken place since April 2015! More colorful, more decorative and the entire back area that a giant empty space used for storage and construction materials is now a classy backroom tasting area with a special party-​room and large spaces to play awesome interactive games, such as Giant Jenga and Bean Bag Toss.
BEST UnilocalIES
Such fantastic fun to spend time once again with my wonderful Unilocal BPB Unilocalies. You couldn’t ask for a better or more educated group of beer-​friends to come and hang out with! Most of us did beer flights. Many of us also bought pints. We ALL bought large selections of food platters, and dishes, and other *Noms* that completely satiated and filled us up with major contentment!
KUDOS & TIP O’ DA HATS!
I have to give a HUGE thank-​out to everyone who came out, and my awesome Unilocal-​friends Adriana, Cherine, Diane & William Clyde, Dominic, Greshka, Jenn’s roomate Jenn, Fotog-​Extraordinaire Julie M., my high school buddy Jorge, Julio, Michael, Nancy, Patty & hubby Chris, «sisters-​Guerrero» Zaira-​Kelli-​AND-​Chok! :D, and if I INADVERTENTLY out, please message me so I can add their name! :D
Special mentions again to my buddy Jennifer for arranging this event, for my sweet cohort-​in-​crime Janine A. for picking me up, and for awesome Unilocal BPB Community Manager (CM) Blue A. for coming out, welcoming me back to Unilocal BPB, AND joining in the fray of food & brew fun!
THE LOWDOWN
For me coming to Ft. Lauderdale and Unilocal BPB never feels like I left home, cause it’s like I am COMING home, ya know? SRSLY! :D