A pair of UW alumni turned their passion for craft beers and brewing into one of Laramie’s newest establishments: Bond’s brewing.
“My husband and I lived in the Denver area for years and got used to going to breweries. We are small town people who both went to school here so we thought Laramie would be a good spot,” said Mallory Bond, Bond Brewing’s General Manager.
Bond’s Brewing opened their doors in July of 2019 and have since become a feature of the downtown area to students and Laramites alike.
“We were doing home brewing and really wanted to go out on our own and start our own thing,” Bond said. “When (my husband) and I first met we were both super into craft beers and it was kind of a newer thing to Wyoming. We went down to Fort Collins one time and met some friends who had been home brewing. Then we just went to the home brew shop and said, ‘let’s get all the stuff, let’s start it ourselves’” Bond said.
This process is not as easy as the Bonds would make it seem, the world of brewing is more complex than meets the eye.
“When Jay (Bond’s husband) gets into something, he dives in headfirst. He did a ton of reading and researching to try and learn everything he possibly could. He doesn’t do anything half-hearted and wanted to make sure if we were gonna home brew that it was gonna be the best home brew anyone’s had,” Bond said.
In terms of the brews, many are original takes on classic flavors. Often, these are brews that the Bonds have been crafting since the earliest days of their home brewing careers.
“A lot of the (brews) that we started with and are still on our rotating menu were styles that both of us wanted to try at home. Jay found some recipes and tweaked them and made them his own. A couple of those, we’ve gotten lucky enough to stick with the entire time,” Bond said.
Located next to the Library Sports Grille and Brewery on South 2 street, the Bond’s renovated the existing space to match what they were trying to create in 2018.
“Our atmosphere really sets it apart. We’ve been to 120 breweries and a big thing for us was to make a nice, big place where people can come and hang out. It’s nice but not stuffy,” Bond said.
Being a brewery, Bond’s brewing caters to more than just the college crowd.
“We’ve gotten away from the ‘only college people come to drink here’ kind of mentality that a lot of places in Laramie have. It’s the nature of the beast here and we wanted to get some young professionals, professionals and working people in and not just the college crowd. We love the college crowd, don’t get me wrong. But it’s nice to have a wide variety of (patrons)” Bond said.
After cultivating an atmosphere of togetherness and quality, the only thing that remains is for people to visit themselves and make their own opinions.
“We have a little something for everyone, which is sometimes hard to find. But I truly believe that we make world-class beer,” Bond said.
