Reflecting on a decade of success with an award-winning Tahoe brewery

Founded in 2014 with a brewery and taproom in Incline Village, and expanded with a pair of buzzy full-service pubs in Incline and Truckee, award-winning Alibi Ale Works is barreling headlong into its next decade of bringing hoppiness to North Tahoe and beyond. We chatted with co-founder and CEO Kevin Drake about alibis of all sorts. 

How did you and co-founder Rich Romo come up with the concept for Alibi Ale Works? 

Rich (an Incline Village native) and I crossed paths in 2012 and both had ambitions to open a brewery. We decided to team up and combine our skill sets to open Lake Tahoe’s first production brewery (versus a small brewpub/restaurant that only sells beer on-site), focused on making beer to sell throughout the greater Lake Tahoe region on draft and in grocery stores.

What’s behind the name? And the logo?

Rich had dubbed one of his homebrews “The Alibi,” and suggested the name for our brewery. Although we considered many options, we kept circling back to Alibi. It was catchy, memorable and, most importantly, not yet trademarked. If you have an alibi, it means your story checks out. We liked that angle. Rich and our designer, Daryll Peirce, spearheaded logo design. Right away, we knew the personified “Mr. Mustache” look was a winner. It’s distinct and iconic, with a look that’s somehow familiar, even to people seeing it for the first time.

How did you decide to expand and evolve from your small first taproom?

Our original business plan was to operate a wholesale brewery and small taproom. Once we began selling beer through wholesale channels (to bars and grocery stores via a distributor), we realized that we didn’t have the economies of scale to be profitable as a wholesale-only brewery. Meanwhile, our taproom was quickly embraced by the community and busier than we anticipated, bursting at the seams on busy days. Pint sales were keeping our lights on. Plus, we were having a lot of fun building community connections through events and beer releases. So, we began searching for a second taproom location and opened Alibi Truckee in summer 2017.  

What have been Alibi’s top 10 most popular pours?

Alibi IPA, Pale Ale, Kolsch, Chance of Clouds, Contradiction, the Mr. Tartacular series (fruited sours), Alibi Lager, almost any one-off IPA, Reverb Red and, lately, most one-off lagers—a trend we are fully embracing.

Small-batch craft cocktails are now in the mix. How else are you branching out?

Yep, small-batch draft cocktails are on tap in Incline (where liquor licenses are inexpensive to acquire). We rotate them frequently and customers are loving them. Our chefs are getting increasingly ambitious with our food menus, with frequent daily specials, which has been fun. Many people don’t realize that we have a great wine list, multiple hard cider options and a ton of non-alc options from kombucha to soda to Hoppy Hour.

Hoppy Hour non-alcoholic beverage: What’s behind it and in it?

Hoppy Hour is our hop-infused sparkling water with mood-boosting adaptogens and nootropics that we launched in September 2024. It’s the light, citrusy non-alc drink with a kiss of hops that people can enjoy anytime, anywhere, with zero downsides. There are a few other hop waters on the market, but most are either boring or bad. We set out to create a truly delicious, balanced hop water that hop-heads and non-beer-lovers alike would enjoy. Hoppy Hour is getting a lot of positive feedback. It’s currently sold in local retailers in Tahoe, Reno and Sacramento and recently launched on Amazon Prime. In May, we’re adding a few new flavors and launching in Southern California.

What inspires the eclectic eats on your menus?

We are grateful to have talented and passionate chefs (and kitchen teams) at our Incline and Truckee pubs. They have a lot of freedom to be creative and chase their culinary inspirations. Our seasonal menus are a balance of worldly flavors and well-executed pub classics. We focus heavily on high-quality, locally sourced ingredients, made-from-scratch sauces and offering great veggie/vegan/GF options. Oh, and we love pairing our food with our beers.

Alibi hosts over 200 community-focused events each year, from avalanche rescue dog fundraisers with Northstar California and Alpine Meadows to country line dancing. What drives your tremendous local involvement and support?

Supporting our community is a true passion of mine and our management team. Whether it’s donating beer for a nonprofit event or hosting a wide range of community events in our pubs, it’s part of our Alibi ethos. We decided to call our taprooms “public houses” for this reason. In Europe, public houses (aka “pubs”) have always been the gathering place for the community, and we’re stoked to be carrying on that tradition.

Where can the rest of the world find an Alibi?

We distribute Alibi beers around the greater Tahoe, Reno and Sacramento areas. If you live outside of these areas, you’re just going to have to come visit us to enjoy our beer. You can, however, get free two-day nationwide shipping for Hoppy Hour on Amazon Prime.

What lies ahead for the next decade?

A few more Alibi pubs in the region. Continued investment in our team and in our community. Lots of fun new seasonal beers and continued refinement of our core beers. And growing Hoppy Hour into a national brand.

Visit alibialeworks.com for additional info and updates about Alibi Ale Works and its locations in Incline Village and Truckee.