Ready to know more about San Diego?

Subscribe

Happy Half Hour: The Incredible Skrewball Story

Co-founder Steve Yeng explains his journey from refugee camps to the face of American spirits
Skrewball

Skrewball

The story of Skrewball deserves its own biopic, if not a 30-part Netflix series. On the surface, you see a good-time peanut butter whiskey from San Diego—one that defied all naysayers and became one of the top-selling spirits in the country. And then you talk to co-owner Steve Yeng and every twist of his life story makes your eyes bulge and your heart alternately sink and soar.

His family fled the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, living in Thai refugee camps. In the San Diego Magazine offices for this podcast, he pulls out a few photos from those days. In one, the family is standing in a foot of muddy water (the town routinely flooded). In another, children eat lunch near a fence made of sharp, deadly spears (it’s the cafeteria of the makeshift school).

“My father saw his own father shot in the camps,” says Steve, whose grandparents were both killed.

The Yeng family—mom, dad, three boys—stayed in the camps for six years. As Steve explains it, Russia’s Red Army would routinely bomb the camps, forcing everyone into below-ground shelters. In those cramped, poorly ventilated quarters, Steve contracted polio from one of the other children (the disease is not eradicated in parts of the world without access to healthcare). For the next five years, he would have to undergo multiple surgeries to correct his imbalanced bone growth. Until age seven, he managed to move around using two flip-flops on his feet, and another two on his hands.

Eventually, his family managed to make it to the U.S.—specifically, to Ocean Beach—living in a garage without running water. His dad found a job at O.B. Donuts (which the family still owns). And peanut butter became a symbol of a better life for the young Yeng brothers.

From that point on, against every odd and with just the right amount of audacity, Yeng became the American dream.

This podcast is the longest we’ve ever recorded. Mostly because David and I sat there rapt, a little heartbroken and wholly inspired. Settle in, or digest it in parts. It’s worth it.

See you next week, guys.

By Troy Johnson

Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.

Share this post

LATEST EPISODES

Podcast

Celebrating 10 Years of Juniper & Ivy with Chef Jon Sloa...

Celebrating 10 Years of Juniper & Ivy with Chef Jon Sloan

Listen now

Podcast

Diving Into Local Fishing with Chris Rov Costa and Theresa T...

Diving Into Local Fishing with Chris Rov Costa and Theresa Talley

Listen now

Podcast

Beards, Brews, and Building a Mobile Bar & BBQ Empire

Listen now

Podcast

How Dang Brother Pizza Turns Fire Trucks into Pizza Hotspots

Listen now

Podcast

Kitchens for Good Tackles Food Waste & Empowers Student ...

Kitchens for Good Tackles Food Waste & Empowers Student Chefs

Listen now

Podcast

How The Mental Bar Became Encanto’s Third Place

Listen now

Podcast

The Story Behind San Diego’s Most Legendary Cocktail

Listen now

Podcast

Hidden Foods Co. is Cracking the Code for Picky Eaters

Listen now

Podcast

The San Diego Nonprofit Saving the World with Stoves

Listen now

Podcast

How Sam The Cooking Guy Won the Internet

Listen now

Podcast

Stella Jean's Secret Sauce Is Its Milk

Listen now

Podcast

Jimbo’s Naturally Celebrates 40 Years of Supporting Local ...

Jimbo’s Naturally Celebrates 40 Years of Supporting Local Farms & Businesses

Listen now

Podcast

Lia's Lumpia Fuses Filipino Cooking with Black Soul Food

Listen now

Podcast

Little Lion’s Chef Learned Everything from Her Grandparent...

Little Lion’s Chef Learned Everything from Her Grandparents

Listen now

Podcast

Actor Martin Short Becomes Mayor of a Food-Obsessed Town

Listen now

Podcast

San Diego’s Best Beer Isn't an IPA

Listen now

Podcast

Javier Plascencia Talks Michelin Stars & Caesar Salad's ...

Javier Plascencia Talks Michelin Stars & Caesar Salad's 100th

Listen now

Podcast

All the Best Eats at the San Diego County Fair

Listen now

Podcast

Cardellino Owner Brad Wise on Truffles, Caviar & Butcher...

Cardellino Owner Brad Wise on Truffles, Caviar & Butchering

Listen now

Podcast

San Diego's King of Produce

Listen now

Podcast

Is this San Diego's Most Picturesque Rooftop Restaurant?

Listen now

Podcast

Trying Petco Park's Best Food with Don and Mud

Listen now

Podcast

SD’s Secret Sommelier Weapon is at North Park’s Black Ra...

SD’s Secret Sommelier Weapon is at North Park’s Black Radish

Listen now

Podcast

Radio Host Chris Cantore & Chef Tyler Mars Launch New Po...

Radio Host Chris Cantore & Chef Tyler Mars Launch New Pop-Up

Listen now

Contact Us

1230 Columbia Street, Suite 800,

San Diego, CA