Bonita Applebum
Funky Buddha Brewery

4/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I like the can artwork, great use of color & creativity. The pour is brown. The taste is sweet vanilla & apples with a faint amount of cinnamon. In addition to, i'm picking up on an Apple Jacks cereal type of taste. I like how the apple & cinnamon is not overpowering which makes this a somewhat easy beer to take down the old gullet. This is my 3rd brown ale from funky Buddha & I enjoying drinking all of them. Well, at least now I can say that I was able to try a beer with apple, cinnamon, & vanilla added to it. Cheers! A-

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3.9/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured a brown body with minimal head and no lace. The aroma is basically apple pie-esque. Smooth, sweet, apple pie flavors with breadiness and spicy apple sweetness but avoids cloying and is easy to drink. Couldn't drink more than one of these but the one I had was enjoyable.

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4.07/5  rDev -2.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Off the nose prevalent notes of vanilla and lighter notes of apple and cinnamon. Strong red apple notes on first sip, vanilla through the middle, and light cinnamon on the end. Very smooth and deliciously fragrant. Light mouthfeel and sweet, but not overpowered. Happy Fall!

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4.01/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Extremely dark; looks nearly like a stout.

Sweet aroma favors cinnamon. Flavor follows: apples, cinnamon, vanilla, and brown sugar. Definitely on the sweet side.

This would make a great Fall beer in New England, even though it's brewed in South Florida.

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4.19/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Served on tap at the brewery

Dark brown, light tan head. Aroma is good, but fairly subtle. Taste is a really nice apple pie type flavor with apple plus lotsa of cinnamon along with caramel malts. Good drinkability. Very tasty beer overall. FB does an excellent job with pulling off getting non traditional flavors into beers.

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4/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On tap at Cigar City/Funky Buddha tap takeover for SAVOR at ChurchKey.

Tasty apple cobbler. Appley and crusty.

Funky Buddha has really cornered the cobbler market.

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4.25/5  rDev +2.2%

Served in a snifter at the brewery in Oakland Park.

Appearance: A one finger head was poured that reduced to a thin layer. It is a murky amber brown color with no vision of anything. Spotty lacing down the glass as the beer was drank.

Smell: Apple pie a la mode, caramel, toffee, cinnamon, bready, vanilla, brown sugar, and can't wait to have a sip.

Taste: Tastes better than it smells.

Mouthfeel: Smooth desert beer, easy drink, medium bodied, and medium carbonation.

Overall: This beer rocks. Enough said.

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4.25/5  rDev +2.2%

Went to Funky buddha brewery for the Bonita applebum growler fill but while i was waiting to get it, i decided to aslo get it on draft as well.

Damn good beer. Its not overbearingly sweat like i thouht it might be. Instead it was perfect.

was like drinking and apple pie. Spices were on point, vanilla was there along with a nice caramel taste. Lastly is the apple which was thankyfully was not artificial like some apple ales.

Very smooth drink and is perfect for a nice fall sunday watching football

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4.35/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Growler provided by buddhabelly91.

Poured into HF stemmed glass. Served at ~ 55F.

A: Deep reddish-brown color with a thick blocky tan head that held on for a good 4-5 minutes before dissipating. Swirling the glass regenreates the head slightly, but it has lost it's blocky character . Held to the light, the beer shows ruby hues on the edges and is clear and free of any residual suspended material.

S: Notes of caramel, brown sugar and sweet malt with hints cinnamon and vanilla over a fresh apple base.

T: Apple cobbler in a glass. A rich, nutty flavor adds to the elements in the smell above. A touch of bread in the finish The richness separates this from apple pie (to me at least).

M: As noted above, there's a mild slickness/richness that coats the inside of my mouth. Carnonation is a bit light (could be growler related), but this doesn't detract from the overall experience.

O: A very nice variation on a brown ale. FB seems to be able to integrate fruit and spice in it's beers well and this is a nice example without goin over the top. Now if we bourbon barrel aged this and added a bit of body, it could be like likquid bread pudding.

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3.86/5  rDev -7.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Thanks to HoppyLuckyGoGo for sharing this one at GRG1313's tasting.

Pours a murky dark brown with a foamy khaki head that settles to an oily film on top of the beer. Small dots of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, grain, spice, and apple aromas. Taste is much the same with apple pie and spice flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of spice bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good beer that has qualities much like apple pie.

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4.19/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

A fantastic beer from Funky Buddha, served in an oversized snifter.

Great appearance that to be compliments the taste they are apple pie taste they are aiming for.

Smells sweet with notes of cinnamon and apples

Tastes fantastic like the insides of a great home made apple pie with fresh apples and cinnamon.

Mouthfeel is good bit could be slightly thicker but still great. My only comment is the brewery pours this too cold and to really appreciate this beer you need to let it sit 10-15 minutes to warm slightly. Great beer and one of my favs from the Buddha

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4.04/5  rDev -2.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Arrives a deep, dark brown with a small, light tan head. Scattered lacing.
Smell is malt, sweet like a milk stout, and some spices.
Taste is rich, malty, spiced apples with cinnamon, a hint of vanilla, I think. Nicely balanced.
Smooth, rich, lightly effervesced. Extremely drinkable, almost like a spiced apple verdion of root beer if that doesn't disgust you. I like it quite a bit.

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3.48/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

On tap at the brewery. Served in a snifter.

Appearance - Deep reddish brown. Arrives with a disparate chunky white head. Thick white collar.

Smell - Apple cinnamon all over. Deeper malts come through. Nutty.

Taste - More cinnamon than anything. Less apple. More darker malts. Nutty again. Astringent finish.

Mouthfeel - Pretty dry. Astringent. Not something I could drink a lot of.

Overall - I think I'd rather just drink the base brown ale, but the treatment is interesting at least.

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4.19/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

A - appearance is chestnut brown with a nice 1/2 inch head, served in a snifter.

S - the aroma does not do this incredible brew any justice.

T - tastes like my mothers baked apple pie..which is obviously amazing

M - mouthfeel is nice, not too heavy.

O - another great offering from the Funky Buddha. This brew reminds me of home made apple pie, with a delicious yet subtle hint of nutmeg. Awesome.

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2.32/5  rDev -44.2%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

On tap at Churchkey. Served in a mini snifter. Pours a medium brown color with a thin head. Spotty lacing. The nose has a pretty hefty amount of spice and some underlying apple. Loads of nutmeg and other pumpkin-pie type spices really take this one over the tap. Flavor has some sweetness and a bit of a caramel apple thing, but the spices are way out front. Too much going on; just a total crapshoot. Not a fan.

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4.24/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A: Poured into a glass this brown ale pours a deep caramel with a very thin head. Not to impressive, but solid non the less.

S: the aroma is sweet apples with hints of cinnamon, almost like the aroma of the crust of an apple pie.

T: the flavor follows the nose. Sweet apples with hints of cinnamon and a little nutmeg.

Mf: mouth feel is a little on the thin side for a brown ale.

Overall this beer is a perfect autumn brew.

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4.45/5  rDev +7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Draft at Prohibition Taproom in Philadelphia, PA.

Pours a dark golden amber color with tangerine edges and a two finger light beige head.  Great retention only slowly fading into a lasting ring. Streaks of soapy lace left behind.

Spicy autumnal aroma with tons of cinnamon, ginger and clove along with sweet apples and light malt.  Apple chutney sweetness along with caramel, toffee, cinnamon, apple pie and graham cracker.

Medium body that's bursting with sweet and spicy apple pie flavor.  Lots of cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutmeg along with sweet apple pie filling.   Sweet malt notes underneath as well with some caramel, toffee and hazelnut lingering into a slightly dry finish.  Another great experimental dessert beer from these guys.  They really nailed the aroma and flavors but at the same time it still feels like a beer.  Excellent!

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3.15/5  rDev -24.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

On draft at Churchkey in D.C.

The beer is orange to auburn in color with a small head that leaves little in the way of lacing. The aroma brings a heavy dose of cinnamon and nutmeg. Apples emerge more in the flavor. Bready and sweet. This beer is dominated by spice. Cinnamon and nutmeg overrun other more subtle flavors. Thin body with low carbonation. Unbalanced. Mediocre.

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3.3/5  rDev -20.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

At the time of this review, this is #7 on the "Top Beers - American Brown Ale" list on beeradvocate.com. Served on draft at Churchkey in DC during an event in a snifter.

Beer is dark brown / almost black and clear at the corners with a thin off white head of small bubbles. Decent retention, no lacing, moderate to low carbonation.

Aroma is strong spice, nutmeg and allspice or something similar.

All nutmeg. it is like biting into a clove or an aromatic spice while eating, my palate is wrecked, oh god no. All spice all the time, this is like distilled chai or something. Wow. Nope, not again.

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3.8/5  rDev -8.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

On tap at Churchkey the other night. It had a caramel brown color to it with a thin white head barely covering the top. Nice looking color to it.

In the aroma I immediately get the cinnamon and apples. There is a little bit of a doughy presence to it as well. It pretty much smells like an uncooked apple pie. It was pretty good, but I couldn't help think how good this would be with some bourbon flavors as I love apple cinnamon infused bourbon.

The taste also really reminds me of raw apple pie ingredients, especially the apple and cinnamon mixture that goes into the pie. A little bit of that doughy flavor is there as well. I like apple pie, so this was pretty appealing overall.

The mouthfeel is thin and a little watery with carbonation being on the lower side. Overall I thought it was a pretty interesting and good beer, but it falls a little short of amazing in my opinion. I can only imagine what little heavier mouthfeel and some bourbon could do for this beer.

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4.17/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

On Tap at Hulmeville Inn.

Bonita Applebaum sports a medium brown color with some redness casted throughout. A nice half inch of medium tan foam that sticks around leaving some spray paint type lace. Smell is what is advertised. Apple pie to the max. The toasted malt scent is muted under a heaping of cinnamon and holiday scents. This is a good brown. While the apple and cinnamon dominate in every sense of the word, the base brown ale malts are intact and holding firm. Fruity and semi sweet, not cloying. The body is at about medium with bubbles. I don't know what it is about this beer, but I would want to drink it every X-MAS for some reason or another.

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3.5/5  rDev -15.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

On tap at ChurchKey in DC.

Pours a brown with a medium off-white head. Smell reminds me more of a pumpkin beer than I expected with lots of baking spices and some apple. Flavor follows the nose, but holy cinnamon! At first it's got a nice spicy apple thing going on, but the cinnamon really takes over here and makes it pretty one-dimensional. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied with good carbonation. Overall, this was my least favorite of the Funky Buddha beers at ChurchKey and frankly is the first one of their beers that I think is rather overrated. I'm not the biggest pumpkin beer fan, and this didn't really set itself apart from your average pumpkin beer. To me it's basically a pumpkin beer, but replace the pumpkin with apple and then overload on cinnamon.

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3.99/5  rDev -4.1%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

First had: on tap at Prohibition Taproom, Philly, PA

Hazy garnet-cider pour, with a small bubbly head; decent retention and a bit of lacing. Excellent aroma, perfect recreation of apple pie, soft apples, blast of bready cinnamon crust, with a touch of vanilla. Taste wasn't nearly as full or inviting as the aroma, unfortunately. It's a lot like the aroma, but a bit thinned down (brown ale = bane of my existence). Sweet, sugary apples, cinnamon and nutmeg, caramel malts. Body was juicy and on the lighter side. I almost want to try this mulled. Overall pretty nice, but not one of the better ones I had from FB. Can't beat the aroma though.

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4.47/5  rDev +7.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours an smber brown color, fluffy and bubbly off-white head. Scent brings wonderful notes of baked apples and cinnamon, solid lightly sweet toasted and biscuity malt profile, light notes of dark dried raisin. Taste follows suit, big baked appels and cinnamon, malt is toasted and biscuity as nose promised, little more sweetness from brown sugar, hint of dark fruit and vanilla. Medium bodied, bubbly. Fantastic beer, so elegant and bold I would have beleived this was a 10% ABV sipper. Another winner for sure.

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4.42/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

On tap at the Buddha event @ Prohibition tonight.

A - Pours a garnet brown color with a nice head that leaves some lacing as my glass is drained. You can get a much better representation of the presentation of the beer v. the smaller pours @ Capones. Very nice.

S - Wonderful beer that would be perfect for X-mas season. Nice combination of apple, cinnamon, breadt biscuit, some vanilla, and everything else that is good and that should be in a glass.

T - Follows the nose and again would make a great Christmas beer to go with your dessert. Great combination of flavors, each represented nicely and without being overly sweet or cloying. Really nice.

M - Pretty nice, about what you would want it to be.

O - For some reason, the Last Snow did not taste right tonight. I did not get nearly the coconut and coffee that I got on Sat from the Last Snow. It is almost like I was poured something else. If the Snow tasted Sat like it did tonight, I would say that this is better. But the Snow I drank on Sat was better than the Apple tonight.

I loved this beer and would drink this around the holidays for sure. Thanks Buddha for some great beers this week. Please come back.

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