Pyramid Alehouse in Berkeley is a lively, fun place for good food, good beer and sketching too. My blackened salmon was delicious and a real challenge to wait to draw and paint before eating. After dinner we planned to sketch the brewery area visible from our table. But mid-meal they turned the lights off in the brewery so we went upstairs to check out the view.
Upstairs there was a crowd of people playing Pyramid’s version of trivial pursuit “Brainstormers Pub Quiz,” with an announcer reading off the challenges that teams try to solve. The teams with the most points win more beer.
I assume there is an honor system that prevents people from getting the answers on their smartphones. I couldn’t play trivial pursuit unless answers like, “You know, it was that guy who was in that movie with that blonde…” would win a prize.
While we were upstairs I (tried to) sketch the chef in his galley kitchen. The perspective was challenging. Then we went downstairs to the bar area. I loved the whimsical handles on the taps, each reflecting some feature of the specific beer. They had 17 beers on tap that night.
I just noticed my color-scheme on these pages: they’re all predominantly beer colored.
Jana Bouc, Artist 
4 replies on “Pyramid Alehouse Sketches”
That looking down perspective is an interesting problem, but really hard to figure out, especially since you weren’t looking directly down at him – makes my brain hurt a little bit. The colors in the top picture are so tasty looking.
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It would have been fun to do several looking down sketches to get the hang of the very interesting perspective challenge. The food tasted a lot better than the sketch came out. Jana
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On firmer ground once again! We get to Pyramid Brewery fairly frequently but in the Walnut Creek location. I have been to the Berkeley one though but didn’t know there was an upstairs.
My favorite though is Triple Rock in Berkeley (Shattuck). It definetely has a “beer hall” atmosphere. I understand that thay have an upstairs beer garden too. There are some interesting people there also:)
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Oh yes, good old Triple Rock (I accidentally spelled it Tipple Rock first). It’s a fun place but the food can’t compare to Pyramid. Jana
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