Better on Draft | Craft Beer Podcast · Better On Draft Podcast

Better on Draft 375 | Berkeley Alley Beer

·1 hr 6 min·4 clips

Berkeley Alley is planning a 'titty trot,' Hope Sings, word nerds, and karaoke bingo around its events calendar.

Rob opens with the welcome and Wendy checking in on what everyone is drinking. Wendy is feeling under the weather, so she goes with ice water and saves the beer for another day. Rob is on a raspberry tart by New Glarus and jokes about slowly making his way through those beers. Liz and Chelsea from Berkeley Alley Brewing join from Denver, Colorado. They start with a Bent Barley peach barley wine at 10 a.m. and treat it like a perfectly normal guest beer. The conversation settles into how their brewery sits in an alley and how that setting shapes the whole place. They explain that they wanted a smaller space that looks women-owned and cared for. That means a look that feels cute, welcoming, and a little European. They talk about how the alley location keeps the room quieter and a bit removed from the main strip. Delivery time is the exception, since the alley gets loud when trucks roll through. The brewery has five fermentation vessels taking up a good chunk of the room. They also had an old barrel program, but the barrels are done for now. Rather than keep unused barrels around, they plan to turn them into a tree-wall patio outside. That idea fits the alley and gives them another way to make the space feel intentional. They joke about wanting people to slow down in the alley. They also mention one neighbor who likes to drive fast. The hosts and guests keep circling back to the same basic point: the place should feel calm, cute, and relaxed. The brewery is meant to be somewhere people can sit, chat, and take the edge off the day. The conversation ends with a friendly sign-off and the reminder that draft is better. By then, the easy pace has already done most of the work.

As heard by us

A breezy brewery chat that gives as much room to the alley as to the beer.

Better on Draft spends its time with Liz and Chelsea from Berkeley Alley Brewing, and the appeal is less a neat brewery profile than a look at how a place gets built.

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Why you'd press play

For a relaxed Denver brewery visit where alley charm and taproom reality matter as much as the beer.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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