Co-Founder and Brewmaster of Smog City Brewing Co., Porter is an award-winning brewer with over 13 years of professional brewing experience. His technical skill and pursuit of exceptionally balanced and creatively inspired beer help make Smog City Brewing an industry leader in the Los Angeles craft beer community. Porter combines his knowledge of beer styles and passion for great food and drink to create solid examples of classic styles as well as experimental beers.  He believes that "anyone who says they don't like beer just hasn't had the right one yet."

Laurie Porter started Smog City Brewing Co. with her husband Jonathan 8 years ago and has quickly become an industry leader in the Los Angeles craft beer scene while building a strong following for her brewery with a great community of customers. She helps run every aspect of the business, from brand building to taproom operations to bookkeeping, with a focus on providing customers with a great experience and making Smog City Brewing Co. the best brewery in Los Angeles. Laurie's ability to foster relationships with community, political, and non-profit organizations has been key to telling the Smog City story and help give back to the local community at the same time. Laurie is also deeply invested in the L.A. County Brewers Guild and serves on the Board of Directors for the California Craft Brewers Association, helping to define how the beer industry will grow and develop in California. With a strong belief that collaboration and industry support will lead us towards a healthy and sustainable future, Laurie's commitment to craft beer has always extended beyond the boundaries of the brewery. 

Ryan, a.k.a. Tall Ryan, has been with Smog City since the beginning! Kicking off his tenure at Smog City in 2013 as a glass washer and beertender, Tall Ryan now runs operations for the whole shebang. Organizing production schedules, managing distribution demands, coordinating events, tasting barrels and attacking any and all tasks around the brewery, Ryan is considered the central nervous system of Smog City.​

 Aften left a career in the aerospace industry to pursue her passion for craft beer and was lucky enough to snag her first official craft beer job at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. as their Events Team Manager for the Southwest U.S. After almost 3 years with Sierra Nevada, Aften left to start her own business working on event & marketing project in the craft beer industry. After working with Smog City on several projects, it became clear that it was a great fit and Aften joined the team in early 2020 as our Brand & Retail Director. Aften oversees our taprooms, marketing, strategic partnerships, brand building, and more. She is a Certified Cicerone who loves food & beer, introducing people to craft beer through education and community building, and Saisons.

Jake has been with Smog City since 2014, heralding from a cross country running background, he brings unique insights to the efficiencies of Smog City Brewing. With over five years experience as a home brewer before joining the team, he has a profound respect for quality and our efforts to give back to the community. Jake's passion, creativity and attention to detail began at an early age as an Eagle Scout and is something he carries with him in everything he does. 

Cesar Alfaro joined the Smog City team in 2017. His daily challenge is translating Porter's whims into the most balanced, complex and creative beers (both sour and clean) possible. Coercing these elegant libations out of barrels in the Sour Program requires a true Barrel Whisperer. Cesar oversees over 300 barrels in our 11,000 sq ft facility, blending barrels, adding fruits, and playing with wild bacteria is his jam.He's also a pretty damn good DJ.

Pat Cross has been with Smog City since 2016, starting as a beertender and has been growing and learning in his role ever since.  He has over 7 years of bar and management experience and brings a unique analytical mind to his role as Taproom Manager. He unleashes his creative side with his passion for repurposing, including creating projects from our used barrels like our 1% for the Planet plaque in the Torrance Taproom. 

Genevieve Leonard comes to Smog City Brewing with a designers eye. She has a background in fashion design as well as running her own alterations business. She joined the brewery world as a taproom lead/event coordinator at Yorkshire Square and Liberation and helped with overall business operations as taproom manager at Ximex Brewing.  With over 10 years of hospitality and event management experience, her strong creative edge adds to our exceptionally balanced crew.  

Cathy Dolan brings to the Smog City family wonderful sophistication in distribution and sales management and an investment in building the Smog City brand out in the world. She is not only extremely professional and organized but great at building relationships in our craft beer community in Los Angeles.