The owner of OB Noodle House, Bar 1502, and The Holding Company - all located in San Diego's Ocean Beach neighborhood - has launched his own bottled peanut butter whiskey. Skrewball Whiskey is now available at select area liquor stores.
Cambodian-born Steven Yeng is hoping to take what was once just a popular, signature shot at his OB Noodle House restaurant and turn it into a successful spirit company. Earlier this summer, with the help of his wife Brittany, Yeng released Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey, a 70-proof bottled version of his cult creation. He may be onto something, as this past August, Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey won the prize for Best Flavored Whiskey at the New York World Wine and Spirits Competition.
Yeng's family story is a true American Dream come true. Born in Cambodia to Chinese parents, the family was forced to become refugees for 5 years in Thailand during the brutal Khmer Rouge Communist regime and its “Killing Fields”. As a baby, Steven contracted polio but eventually mostly recovered although he continues to walk with a limp. After an Ocean Beach family anonymously sponsored the Yeng families migration to San Diego in 1991, his parents began working at O.B. Donuts, which they were eventually able to purchase and rescue from bankruptcy.
In 2008, Steven and his brother, Kyle, opened the original O.B. Noodle House. Although "The Noodle House" was mostly an immediate success, the constant lines started forming out-the-door after the restaurant was featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in August 2013. In May 2014, Yeng opened the second OB Noodle House & Bar 1502 at 4993 Niagara Street in Ocean Beach. In mid-2016, Yeng continued his Ocean Beach takeover when he leased the space that previously housed Gallagher's and opened The Holding Company, a bar & music venue which is currently undergoing a top-to-bottom remodel to make it more family-friendly with the addition of a rooftop bar and dining component.
Based on the popularity of his peanut butter Jameson shot served at his bars, Yeng decided to manufacture a retail version and rolled out the first Skrewball bottles for purchase this past July. The spirit can now be found at many area bars and liquor stores at the cost of around $25 a bottle. It is also available in parts of Arizona with hopes of a national expansion.
For more information about Skrewball Whiskey, including drink recipes and where to find it, visit skrewballwhiskey.com.
