Chef Joshua Skenes doesn’t always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers it ice-cold. “Temperature becomes its own sensation and element,” said Skenes, who helms the restaurant Leopardo in Los Angeles, which exclusively serves brews from burgeoning craft beer company Skyduster. The beer was selected by the restaurant’s beverage manager Brandyn Tepper for its light and refreshing profile and uncanny ability to pair well with just about anything served on a plate. Leopardo, along with hotspots Bavel, Saffy’s, Market in Venice, Scopa, and Pizzeria Bianco, are among an elite group of restaurants hip to selling the little-known beer brand with just 2,000 Instagram followers and four barren posts.

Skyduster’s website doesn’t provide much detail beyond a short blurb about its name, which comes from the lanky palm trees that dot the Los Angeles skyline. There’s a note about a potential brewery opening Downtown but nothing about Skyduster’s origins, where it’s brewed, or who is behind it. With many small-batch beer brands across the country and Southern California diminishing their offerings or closing up shop completely, how has Skyduster become Los Angeles’s coolest beer seemingly overnight?

Chef Ori Menashe of Bavel, Bestia, and Saffy’s was introduced to the brand by his beverage director Garrett Sprague. “It’s a very drinkable beer — you can pound multiple ones, and it’s not too hoppy. They work well with our grilled meats and even some of the seafood,” says Menashe. The beer is very food-friendly, and it’s not like they’re trying to show off.”

Eater reached out to Skyduster for answers, and after a few days, its scruffy, salt-of-the-earth-looking founders, Jonny Marler and Nick Smith, pulled up at Vox Media’s office in Culver City in a green Toyota pickup truck. The two met during the pandemic as part of a chef’s cycling group, though neither of them are chefs. Smith is a Harvard grad and former Goldman Sachs analyst who started an app that helped people book private dining rooms in restaurants — a thing that became moot during the pandemic shutdowns. Toronto-born Marler bounced around with odds jobs, fixing boats, working in television, and eventually doing the sales and marketing for a hard cider brand called Batlow with a neighbor in Australia.

Marler’s entrepreneurial knack and Smith’s business know-how led them to start Skyduster. “Beer was getting boring and stale, it was all about the hops they use, the machinery. We got into beer because it was fun,” says Marler.

“We’re also passionate about people, and we wanted to find a vehicle to stay connected in an industry that Nick and I loved,” adds Smith.

The secret to the brand’s expansion is pounding the pavement with a personal touch. “A lot of people have forgotten the art of making friends. We focused on amazing customer service and getting in with chefs,” says Marler, who was previously involved with House beer, Juice Served Here, and Vittoria Coffee. For Skyduster’s flavor profile, the duo went with something crisp and refreshing that paired well with food. Their lager incorporates rice for something that resembles an easy-going Japanese beer while their West Coast IPA, Italian pilsner, and Citrus wit all maintain a restrained approach. Properly chilled, the beers exude a smooth effervence.

“We want to follow what natural wine or Casamigos did, brands that were hyperfocused on cool restaurants for building their brand,” says Marler. “Our customers are the chefs, back-of-house, and front-of-house. We want to be known as the beer that people in the restaurant industry drink.”

Stan Lee

And chefs have responded to their no-nonsense, old-school approach. “They’re cool guys, and their beer is delicious. It’s crushable. When the people are good and the beer’s good, we just try to support it,” says Chris Bianco, chef and owner of Pizzeria Bianco in Downtown LA. Bianco says his approach has always been to work with local, small producers who have to compete in a crowded market.

Chef Melissa Lopez only serves Skyduster on tap at her tiny Portuguese restaurant Barra Santos in Cypress Park, a James Beard Award finalist with some of the most desired tables in Los Angeles. “We only serve things we love to drink ourselves,” Lopez said. “It’s just cold, crisp, and super-easy to drink. It’s a perfect complement to our food.”

Marler sold the company’s first keg to his brother Nick Marler’s restaurant, Market in Venice, in March 2022, but didn’t officially launch the brand until August 2022. Skyduster’s eye-catching branding was conceived by Shins Pizza co-founder Shin Irvin, whose design studio Folklor nailed the brand’s laidback LA identity. The bold colors, clear typeface, and relaxed styling evoke a premium but still relatable vibe, like something tailor-made but unfussy. “I’m a sucker for great packaging, and it’s great,” says Bianco. “It’s clean, it’s all business, there’s something pretty groovy about it.”

Currently, Skyduster is produced in Oceanside, California, which makes sense given the extra capacity of many San Diego County breweries and the enormous investment required to own their equipment. “Some people say, ‘You don’t own your own facility, so you’re not real,’” says Smith, who wanted to start out low-cost and nimble. “We’ve had our own brewer on staff from the beginning. We go in, rent the space, and make our own beer,” he says.

While a brewing facility in Los Angeles is possible in the future, Smith and Marler will be opening a taproom and restaurant in Silver Lake next year in the former Malo and Bar Restaurant space on Sunset Boulevard. “Our goal is to have a home where consumers can come and experience our brand,” says Smith.

Matthew Kang