hit me with a screw ball
cheers a shot of whiskey is usually the
sign of a good time
but for stephen yang and his family this
drink represents so much more nowhere
else in the in any other country would
be a cambodian refugee a mom with a
chemistry background a law degree create
a peanut butter whiskey and became the
most successful launch super premium
liquor in history we are ultimately the
american dream
steven is the co-founder of the popular
screwball peanut butter whiskey and his
story of success began more than 8 000
miles from his home in san diego to a
childhood marked by tragedy in cambodia
there was a whole genocide that happened
from 74 to 79 i caught polio when i was
one years old and so my parents decided
to drop everything and decide to leave
cambodia and go into a refugee camp and
that journey was extremely difficult my
mom was pregnant with my little brother
at the time when we were crossing
the landmine borders the yang family
endured the dangerous journey and sought
safety in a refugee camp in thailand
where they stayed for six years you
describe your parents as being so
optimistic but the most optimistic
person in that situation i'm sure feels
beaten down what kept you going a
parent's love for their child they truly
believe they could get me medical help
and what was your physical state like at
this time after a couple years or so i i
couldn't walk anymore because my leg my
muscle didn't develop anymore and so how
i really get by is just two sandals on
my feet and two sandals on my hand and
just crawl
wow
that's really tough
in 1992 the yang's hopes were answered
when they got sponsored to move to
california where stephen was able to
receive the medical care he needed we
were all skin and bone
and speaking english we would always get
basket food all the time and it would be
some fruits
bread and then peanut butter that was my
first basket i ever had it's peanut
butter and i was like oh my gosh
what is this so for me
peanut butter was a taste of freedom
fast forward to 2006 stephen opened opie
noodle house with his brothers scott and
kyle
there he let his love for peanut butter
run wild i put peanut butter in
everything
peanut butter and wings and fried rice
and then i start picking peanut butter
with jamison
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that tastes like peanut butter we turned
that into screwball peanut butter
whiskey his wife brittany figured out
how to make it work she's the brain in
all this she's able to use her chemistry
background to formulate the brand and
also really create everything from the
bottle and just look at all the
contracts without my wife there would be
no struggle the brand struggled to find
bottlers distributors and investors
ultimately stephen and brittany finance
the company themselves how did you
continuously believe in yourself when
there were so many external factors that
were consistently breaking you down how
we believe is what my parents taught us
also we're now have a child we're
thinking setting a better future for our
daughter so that was the strength that
got us going since we launched we were
the fastest to
a million flat cases for a premium brand
america loves a good drink yes god bless
america
since its launch in 2018 the drink has
exploded in popularity even gaining
celebrity fans like questlove and dave
grohl and with its success stephen is
committed to giving back i was on the
opposite side and now it's just coming
back full circle
most recently providing aid for
ukrainian refugees in poland and
donating 100 000 to orphanage
renovations all part of the brand's
mission to spread kindness to those in
need i believe we could achieve progress
by working together take the single
choices right here when you're about
single it's easily broken but
if we come together and work together we
reinforce and support each other we will
thrive if we work together
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isn't a story remarkable
the optimism that carried each
generation through and the success to
see they have now it was amazing to feel
and see the stark contrast between his
past and present wow and so you know i'm
normally the friend who makes everyone
takes take a shot i remember that
cheers so i think we need to cheers to
steve cheers to steve cheers awesome oh
do i actually take a kit
okay it's creamy
i know it tastes like peanut butter wow
it's delicious i know i just did a tiny
tiny scissors that's not a wrapper i
mean that's why it sold over one that's
total sense okay
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you