The Bar That Beer Built. Our Collaboration with Smog City

You don’t really plan these things. They happen the way good stories do—unexpectedly, and then all at once.

It started at the Torrance Farmers Market. Saturday mornings, way too early for most sane people, but just right for the ones chasing flavor. I’d be there hunting down the ripest strawberries or obscure herbs to test in ganache. And every so often, I’d spot Brewmaster Jon Porter—meticulously working the stalls, scouting hops like a chef scouts truffles. No entourage. No noise. Just a quiet obsession with getting it right.

There’s a certain poetry to that kind of dedication. It’s not about ego or flash. It’s about process. Tasting, adjusting, refining. Over and over again. Until the thing in your head finally matches the thing in your hands. That’s how Jon brews. That’s how we make chocolate. So eventually, after enough chance encounters and conversations over pints, we said: let’s do something together.

What came out of it is called The Elements of Beer Bar. A 55% milk chocolate bar infused with real ingredients pulled straight from Jon and Laurie’s brewing playbook: fresh hops, toasted malted barley, and hand-cut orange peel. Every single element carefully selected, tested, and tweaked through countless iterations until it didn’t just taste good…it felt right.

We went through version after version. Too bitter. Not bitter enough. Too much citrus. Not enough malt. One bar would hit you up front but fall flat on the finish. Another had the body, but no spark. And then, after months of dialing it in, we hit the one that sang.

The flavor is a slow build. It starts with silky milk chocolate—creamy, rich, indulgent. Then comes a bright, citrus zing from the orange peel, cutting through with precision. The malted barley adds depth—warm, roasty, almost like the crust of freshly baked bread. And the hops? They sneak in at the end, adding a whisper of bitterness that makes you pause, smile, and go back for another bite.

This bar isn’t a gimmick. It’s not a novelty. It’s a collaboration between two craftspeople who care way too much about the details. It’s for people who love nuance, who believe food and drink should make you feel something.

And it’s available now, at Smog City’s taprooms, just in time for their anniversary celebration. Limited release. Because things this personal shouldn’t last forever.

Come for the beer. Stay for the chocolate. Stick around for the story.

Order it here. 

Chef Jeffray 

Founder and Executive Chef