One of the biggest changes was the addition of a pizza oven. “The oven has been phenomenal for us.” He explained that his brewery equipment supplier was also a vendor of specialty pizza ovens. Money had brought fermenters and other equipment one at a time in his pickup truck from his supplier in south Florida, and during every trip he’d say he would love to buy an oven.

Around July 2020, the supplier called Money to tell him he had two container trucks coming in at the Port of Miami within 48 hours but didn’t have the space for one of the pizza ovens he was receiving. The supplier told him that “if you can get down here within 48 hours, I’ll give you a price that you will not believe on the pizza oven.” After hearing the quote, Money rented a Penske truck, picked up a load of cans in Atlanta, then headed to South Florida to pick up his new oven.

“We have a lot of fun with the oven–I get jealous sometimes, not being able to play with the oven as much as I want,” he laughed. “They’re remarkably versatile and the flavor they impart in the pizza is just insane.”

According to Money, the coolest thing about owning and operating his business relates to the people who visit the brewery. He described one Friday night as “iconic Huntsville, where literally every person, or one person in each family at that bar was working on the SLS.” Money said that he loves walking back and forth and talking to people and learning what they do.

Money noted that government agencies send employees to the Arsenal for training and they often stop by the local breweries for tours. “We’re smaller, we try to be very customer-engaging. That was a key point for us.“

He added that NASA’s chief historian gave a talk at Innerspace right around the anniversary of the moon landing. “We were as full as we’ve ever been,” he said. “It was a phenomenal thing to have the chief historian…that was super cool” [Author’s note: I attended this event and can confirm].

InnerSpace’s science/sci-fi theme also comes across in the names and logos of its beers, which frequently give nods to NASA or pop culture. Some of the beers currently on tap, for instance, include “SLS: Spelt-Launched Saison; ISS: International Strawberry Sensation; Red Shirt Red Ale; and White Star Wheat.

When asked how the new flavors are developed, Money stated that it’s a joint effort. “We have a fantastic staff…we will generally get together and we’ll just toss out ideas of what might be cool. We have customers that have traveled to other places that say ‘hey, we went to a brewery and so and so, they did a such-and-such.’ So we’ll get together and we’ll kind of kick it around in kind of a group context and see what might work, what would be fun, what would be great to try, and then I will generally do a base beer and we’ll work with it and see what we come up with.”

He described some as “happy accidents,” such as the wildly popular Blueberry Milkshake, their biggest seller. They do a rotating selection of seasonal saisons as well: “strawberry in the spring, blackberry in the height of summer, cranberry in the fall, try to do a rye saison in the winter.”

InnerSpace is also beginning to create more ciders. Money mentioned that their popular Cotton Candy Cider was his wife’s idea, inspired by her love of Cotton Candy grapes. The brewery began with primarily farmhouse and saison-style beers, although Money admitted that he’s personally more of an IPA drinker. “We’re going to be working on some new cider recipes and a couple of gose recipes,” he added.

Another innovation inspired by customer suggestions is InnerSpace’s signature beer cocktails, created when customers ask for two different beers to be mixed.

“Generally, breweries are so social, so somebody will try it, somebody else will see them try it and then say ‘hey, can we try that too,’ and then next thing you know there’s a conversation going.” Not all mixtures are hits, but some have taken off, such as the “Dark Blue Skies,” a combination of Blueberry Milkshake and Dark Skies Saison layered together.

Money is adamant that the new flavors they develop are held to the highest standards, and although it is expensive to dump a tank of beer that is not 100% up to par, “okay is not okay.” “I’m always happy brewing a new beer,” he said. “Brewing the same ones again and again, that’s the lifeblood of the brewery but it’s fun to experiment.”

Asked whether he sees expansion in InnerSpace’s future, Money replied that he does not anticipate adding additional locations any time soon, but they are expanding their brewing capacity significantly. “We’ll be able to brew a lot more beer and move into canning, finally, in a significant way.” In addition, the brewery will be making significantly more cider in the future.

His advice to someone starting a new brewery: “Number one: do it. If you’re going to do it, do it 100, 110%. There’s always room for more beer, for more breweries, for more innovation. But you’ve gotta make sure your family or whoever with you is all in. And this sounds trite, but just whatever you think the budget is, multiply it times three and multiply the time by probably about the same factor. It’s just going to cost way, way more.” Another piece of advice Money offered was to talk to other brewers and breweries to get their perspectives.

Money attributes his success to a fantastic staff that engages with customers. He also credited his staff with InnerSpace’s survival during the pandemic: although the hardships brought about by the shutdown and restrictions were difficult, “we would have been in real trouble if we hadn’t made great customer relationships prior to Covid and the shutdown.”

One of the biggest lessons Money learned from the experience was that “you have to prepare for everything going wrong at the same time and then just hope it doesn’t all go wrong at the same time.”

Money imparted some final words of wisdom: to the extent that we’ve had success, it’s been because I think the staff has adopted wholeheartedly the mantra of engaging with the customers, talking to people, to be friendly, to be accommodating, you know, in every chance we can be accommodating.”

With a rating of 4.9 stars, the Google reviews of InnerSpace confirm this: while the customers rave about the delicious beer and pizza, they consistently praise the kindness and helpfulness of the staff, the friendly and fun atmosphere, and the great service.

As the interview concluded, Money reiterated the key elements of his ideal brewery: “a brewery is supposed to be a social place. It’s supposed to be a friendly place.” Adding to this, his brewery is a smart place, employing a number of college students. “Half of my staff are astrophysicists,” he said. “Literally. I take pride in being the stupidest person in the room,” he joked.