Craft Beer Tour 2018: Wyoming

These photos were taken Sunday, September 23, at Wind River Brewing in Pinedale, and Square State Brewing Company in Rock Springs; which was day seven of my Craft Beer Tour 2018.

When I left Denver I headed out for an eight hour drive to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for Roadhouse Brewing, where a friend has recently become their California representative. It was going to be one of my longest drives of my journey thus far, so I didn’t visit any other breweries as I wanted to get to Roadhouse before they closed, and maybe hit up Melvin Brewing if there was time. I was about 10 miles north of Pinedale on Hwy 191, maybe an hour south of Jackson Hole when the road was closed due to a wildfire or forest fire.

I got out and spoke with the sheriff, who gave me a couple alternate routes to Jackson Hole. One was an additional two hours, the other an additional three. I tried to take to shorter of the two routes “around the mountain” but that road immediately went from a two lane highway, to a one lane paved road to a one-lane dirt road; my Dodge Charger is not meant for off-roading, so after a few minutes I gave up. After a couple minutes of turning around without going into a ditch, I backtracked 10 miles to Pinedale because I had noticed Wind River Brewing as I passed through.

I do not know what to say about Wind River, other than it looked nice and I would have liked to try their beer; unfortunately, they either had more business that they needed, or they just were not fond of out-of-town strangers. I sat at the bar for 10 minutes without so much as a hello. Another gentleman sat next to me about five minutes in. I don’t know if he was a local or not, but he didn’t get served either. I figured they did not need the business, so I left and backtracked another 90 miles to Rock Springs because I knew Bitter Creek Brewing was there, and they had food! What I didn’t know is that they are closed on Sundays.

Luckily, Rock Springs got a new microbrewery a few months ago, Square State Brewing and as advertised, they had ales to cure what ailed me; a bad attitude.

I was surprised when I opened up Bitter Creek’s page and discovered they were not open on Sundays, but as I had never been to Square State Brewing I considered it a win.

Buddy and I were welcomed by Amanda, our beertender, who is also a co-founder, co-owner, wife of the brewer, and mother of three; for wearing all those hats she is pretty darned personable and pleasant.

As usual, I ordered a flight; as they only had six brews available, I tried each of them. The Calypso IPA ended up coming home with me, but the Spat Hook amber or Murfie Brown brown ale could have filled that spot if I had a bigger cooler with me.

Square State has a very small brewhouse; so small that they have to close on Monday and Tuesday for brew days. But if there is one thing I have learned on these cross-country beer tours is that size really has little to do with quality.

Like I mentioned above, Square State Brewing recently opened, like three months ago; so new that they are still dealing with the city on how to deal with food. Apparently they can drink beer on the sidewalk, but if you are eating a burger you have to come inside; dumb things like that. Luckily, I have worked with a lot of cities and breweries; hopefully I can help ease Rock Springs growing pains. The City of Rock Springs should work with them the way Lomita has with Burnin’ Daylight and Project Barley. I think that would make Rock Springs a Wyoming craft beer destination.

Square State Brewing is located at 422 S Main Street in Rock Springs. They are open Wednesday through Sunday, dog friendly, have crowlers to go and do growler fills. Cheers!

Back to Photos from Wind River Brewing and Square State Brewing

Back to Photos from Wind River Brewing and Square State Brewing

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