I like your second version. My own style, still evolving, is to write more lines and align further left

  select
    a.foo
    , b.bar
    , g.zed
  from alpha a
  inner join beta b on
    b.alpha_id = a.id
    and b.thing = a.another
  left  join gamma g on
    g.beta_id = b.id
  where
    a.val > 1
    and b.col < 2
  order by
    a.foo