Brimming With Enthusiasm

Laurie Porter mixes craft beer-making, community involvement and industry leadership to create the perfect life blend. 

Written by Nancy Sokoler Steiner | Photographed by Micheal Neveux 

Animation and passion radiate from Laurie Porter when she talks about craft beer and Smog City Brewing Co., the business she founded with her husband, Jonathan, in 2011. Porter was still glowing from participating in L.A. Beer Week, a county-wide celebration of craft beer. The event took place the previous week for the first time since the pandemic.

“It was amazing and invigorating to see familiar faces after four years of isolation,” she says. “Our industry is all about collaboration and community. When we’re isolated, it changes the dynamic of the industry.”

The Porters opened Smog City Brewery & Taproom on Del Amo Boulevard in Torrance in 2013. Since then, they’ve added Smog City West on Hawthorne Boulevard and taprooms at SteelCraft in Long Beach and Public Market in Glendora.

“We brew a wide array of creatively inspired quality beers—drawn from experiences in our own lives, whether tied to travel, food or a scent we encountered on a hike,” says Porter. Some of Smog City’s most popular beers include Sabre-Toothed Squirrel, Coffee Porter and Little Bo Pils. The Porters believe anyone who doesn’t like beer simply hasn't tasted the right one yet.

Porter says her job's most rewarding aspect involves building enduring customer relationships. “Many of our regulars who come in today, I served them back in 2013,” she says. When the taprooms hold anniversary parties, “it feels like a wedding—everybody hugs each other. There’s a lot of emotional investment.”

Porter believes in positively impacting her community and found a way to do so through involvement in Food Forward, a nonprofit organization that collects surplus fruits and vegetables and delivers them to hunger relief agencies. One of Smog City’s first activities with the organization involved creating a craft beer using excess kumquats and donating the profits to Food Forward.

The brewery belongs to 1% for the Planet, donating 1% of gross annual sales to environmental causes. Each year the Porters designate four environmental organizations to receive funds, creating a new beer in collaboration with each group.

A member of the Torrance Chamber of Commerce, Porter received the chamber’s Community Catalyst Award in March. “I’m honored by the award and have always said my personal superpower is being a catalyst. I believe the world is a better place when you put good people together, and I love connecting very different people to make something new.”

Porter previously served as the president of the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild, which promotes craft beers, educates consumers and fosters camaraderie in the industry. The group’s membership grew substantially during her tenure.

Currently, Porter serves as chair of the California Craft Brewers Association, an advocacy organization. “I love talking to legislators and understanding the complexities of the government,” she says. She enjoys explaining what’s involved in craft brewing to legislators and helping them understand the impact of their decisions on the industry. At the same time, she says, she’s come to appreciate how they must balance a variety of interests and priorities.

Whether talking to her employees, customers, colleagues or lawmakers, Porter thrives on forming and maintaining relationships. “I feel very lucky,” she says. That’s a sentiment worth toasting.