diff --git a/logback-core/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/Tokenizer.java b/logback-core/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/Tokenizer.java
index a60c96079a..1f31dc3a95 100644
--- a/logback-core/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/Tokenizer.java
+++ b/logback-core/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/Tokenizer.java
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ List<Token> tokenize() throws ScanException {
             addLiteralToken(tokenList, buf);
             break;
         case START_STATE:
-         // trailing $. see also LOGBACK-1149
+            // trailing $. see also LOGBACK-1149
             buf.append(CoreConstants.DOLLAR);
             addLiteralToken(tokenList, buf);
             break;
@@ -86,6 +86,14 @@ private void handleDefaultValueState(char c, List<Token> tokenList, StringBuilde
             addLiteralToken(tokenList, stringBuilder);
             stringBuilder.setLength(0);
             state = TokenizerState.START_STATE;
+            break;
+        case CoreConstants.CURLY_LEFT:
+            stringBuilder.append(CoreConstants.COLON_CHAR);
+            addLiteralToken(tokenList, stringBuilder);
+            stringBuilder.setLength(0);
+            tokenList.add(Token.CURLY_LEFT_TOKEN);
+            state = TokenizerState.LITERAL_STATE;
+
             break;
         default:
             stringBuilder.append(CoreConstants.COLON_CHAR).append(c);
@@ -104,23 +112,28 @@ private void handleStartState(char c, List<Token> tokenList, StringBuilder strin
     }
 
     private void handleLiteralState(char c, List<Token> tokenList, StringBuilder stringBuilder) {
-        if (c == CoreConstants.DOLLAR) {
+        switch (c) {
+        case CoreConstants.DOLLAR:
             addLiteralToken(tokenList, stringBuilder);
             stringBuilder.setLength(0);
             state = TokenizerState.START_STATE;
-        } else if (c == CoreConstants.COLON_CHAR) {
+            break;
+        case CoreConstants.COLON_CHAR:
             addLiteralToken(tokenList, stringBuilder);
             stringBuilder.setLength(0);
             state = TokenizerState.DEFAULT_VAL_STATE;
-        } else if (c == CoreConstants.CURLY_LEFT) {
+            break;
+        case CoreConstants.CURLY_LEFT:
             addLiteralToken(tokenList, stringBuilder);
             tokenList.add(Token.CURLY_LEFT_TOKEN);
             stringBuilder.setLength(0);
-        } else if (c == CoreConstants.CURLY_RIGHT) {
+            break;
+        case CoreConstants.CURLY_RIGHT:
             addLiteralToken(tokenList, stringBuilder);
             tokenList.add(Token.CURLY_RIGHT_TOKEN);
             stringBuilder.setLength(0);
-        } else {
+            break;
+        default:
             stringBuilder.append(c);
         }
 
diff --git a/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/NodeToStringTransformerTest.java b/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/NodeToStringTransformerTest.java
index 9090357eca..9b293097b9 100644
--- a/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/NodeToStringTransformerTest.java
+++ b/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/NodeToStringTransformerTest.java
@@ -129,4 +129,11 @@ public void defaultValueNestedAsVar() throws ScanException {
         assertEquals("axv0c", nodeToStringTransformer.transform());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void LOGBACK_1101() throws ScanException {
+        String input = "a: {y}";
+        Node node = makeNode(input);
+        NodeToStringTransformer nodeToStringTransformer = new NodeToStringTransformer(node, propertyContainer0);
+        assertEquals("a: {y}", nodeToStringTransformer.transform());
+    }
 }
diff --git a/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/TokenizerTest.java b/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/TokenizerTest.java
index 1a0185d8a3..dcabacd652 100644
--- a/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/TokenizerTest.java
+++ b/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/subst/TokenizerTest.java
@@ -171,4 +171,20 @@ public void literalEndingWithDollar_LOGBACK_1149() throws ScanException {
         witnessList.add(new Token(Token.Type.LITERAL, "$"));
         assertEquals(witnessList, tokenList);
     }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void LOGBACK_1101() throws ScanException {
+        String input = "a:{y}";
+        Tokenizer tokenizer = new Tokenizer(input);
+        List<Token> tokenList = tokenizer.tokenize();
+        witnessList.add(new Token(Token.Type.LITERAL, "a"));
+        
+        witnessList.add(new Token(Token.Type.LITERAL, ":"));
+        witnessList.add(Token.CURLY_LEFT_TOKEN);
+        witnessList.add(new Token(Token.Type.LITERAL, "y"));
+        
+        witnessList.add(Token.CURLY_RIGHT_TOKEN);
+        assertEquals(witnessList, tokenList);
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/util/OptionHelperTest.java b/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/util/OptionHelperTest.java
index ace0c3c635..7a87e97af5 100755
--- a/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/util/OptionHelperTest.java
+++ b/logback-core/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/core/util/OptionHelperTest.java
@@ -255,8 +255,41 @@ public void trailingColon_LOGBACK_1140() {
         String prefix = "c:";
         String suffix = "/tmp";
         context.putProperty("var", prefix);
-        String r = OptionHelper.substVars("${var}"+suffix, context);
-        assertEquals(prefix+suffix, r);
+        String r = OptionHelper.substVars("${var}" + suffix, context);
+        assertEquals(prefix + suffix, r);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void curlyBraces_LOGBACK_1101() {
+        {
+            String input = "foo{bar}";
+            String r = OptionHelper.substVars(input, context);
+            assertEquals(input, r);
+        }
+        {
+            String input = "{foo{\"bar\"}}";
+            String r = OptionHelper.substVars(input, context);
+            assertEquals(input, r);
+        }
+        {
+            String input = "a:{y}";
+            String r = OptionHelper.substVars(input, context);
+            assertEquals(input, r);
+        }
+        {
+            String input = "{world:{yay}}";
+            String r = OptionHelper.substVars(input, context);
+            assertEquals(input, r);
+        }
+        {
+            String input = "{hello:{world:yay}}";
+            String r = OptionHelper.substVars(input, context);
+            assertEquals(input, r);
+        }
+        {
+            String input = "{\"hello\":{\"world\":\"yay\"}}";
+            String r = OptionHelper.substVars(input, context);
+            assertEquals(input, r);
+        }
     }
-    
 }
diff --git a/logback-site/src/site/pages/news.html b/logback-site/src/site/pages/news.html
index caa66b5eba..b7536474de 100755
--- a/logback-site/src/site/pages/news.html
+++ b/logback-site/src/site/pages/news.html
@@ -30,6 +30,14 @@ <h2>Logback News</h2>
     the <a href="http://www.qos.ch/mailman/listinfo/announce">QOS.ch
     announce</a> mailing list.</p>
 
+    <hr width="80%" align="center" />
+
+    <h3>February , 2018, Release of version 1.3.0-beta0</h3>
+
+    <p>Fix issue with properties containing JSON strings as reported
+    in <a
+    href="https://jira.qos.ch/browse/LOGBACK-1101">LOGBACK-1101</a>.
+    </p>
     
     <hr width="80%" align="center" />