During our trip to Colorado earlier this year, I decided to head across Nebraska on I-80 to Cheyenne, WY and take I-25 south to Fort Collins. It was actually a two-fold intent for me - it appeared to be the fastest (but not the shortest) route to Fort Collins, and it gave me another state capitol building that I could see. (I was - and still am - somewhat of a geography nerd, and I could name all the state capitals by the time I was five years old. Still can, too.) As we approached Cheyenne, my wife said she thought she needed something to eat. Nothing heavy, but just a little something. I wasn't all that hungry, but I did agree that we could stop somewhere. My wife looked up local brewpubs on her smartphone and she found a place that sounded pretty interesting - the Accomplice Beer Company. After checking out the Wyoming State Capitol Building (which was shrouded in tarps and scaffolding as it was undergoing a significant renovation), we went a few blocks south to the Accomplice Beer Company.
The Accomplice Beer Company opened in June of 2016, the fourth craft brewery to open in Cheyenne after Freedom's Edge Brewing (2012), Cheyenne Brewing Company (2014) and Danielmark's Brewing Co. (April of 2016). A.B.C., as its known to the locals, is part of the Finally Restaurant Group which oversees the Rib and Chop House restaurants that were founded by Louisiana-native Burke Moran in Bozeman, MT in 2001. There are 11 Rib and Chop House restaurants in Montana, Wyoming and Utah, and the Rib and Chop House in downtown Cheyenne is arguably the most popular restaurant in the city.
When Cheyenne Brewing Company closed its doors in the historic Cheyenne Depot Plaza in late 2015, Finally Restaurant Group decided to take over the spot. Rumors swirled that they would be opening a second Rib and Chop House in the location, but with a somewhat new brew works already in place, they decided to open a brewpub instead. When the Accomplice Beer Company opened in the summer of 2016, they didn't have the proper federal licensing to brew and serve their own beers, so they had a number of guest brews on tap. However, it wasn't long before Brewmaster Jerod Day was serving his specialty beers at A.B.C.
We pulled up to the historic Cheyenne Depot Plaza just before 3 p.m Mountain Time on a warm Sunday afternoon. (see map) We were able to find parking in a free lot on the west side of the large ornate depot. The depot was built by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1887 nearly 20 years after the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad that went through Cheyenne between Omaha, NE and San Francisco/Oakland, CA. In 1993, the Union Pacific donated the somewhat dilapidated building to the city of Cheyenne who started an extensive refurbishing of the building soon thereafter. Today, Cheyenne Depot Plaza houses not only the Accomplice Beer Co., but the Cheyenne Depot Museum, an interactive display that shows historical train exhibits, as well as telling the story of how the railroad contributed to the growth of Cheyenne over the years. A plaza in front of the building, which was designated as a National Historical Landmark in 2006, hosts a number of events year-round.
Walking inside the Accomplice Beer Company, we found a couple of rooms with large beer tanks with the restaurant just around the corner. The long narrow space featured a bar, and had a wonderful early 20th century feeling to the place. High-beamed ceilings, hanging antique lights and a tile floor were the features that stood out most in the space.
There was an outdoor patio that was right next to the working Union Pacific tracks. Passenger service to and from Cheyenne ended in 1983 and the depot was shut down at that time. (Amtrak started a new line between Denver and Seattle in the early 1990's using a small depot south and west of Cheyenne for the official local depot. But that service was discontinued about four years later.) However, freight service on the Union Pacific is still an ongoing enterprise and there were a number of trains chugging through the yard next to the depot.
Accomplice Beer Company uses a "pour-your-own" system for serving you beer. While they did have a full bar, being able to pour your own beer for either a sample taste or for a full pint is the fun part of the visit. The drill is that when you come in, you present your credit card to the person at the front desk. They give you back a card with a chip in it that tracks how much beer you pour. You set the card in a little slot underneath the screen and you pour the beer. There is a wash station under the spigots that allows you to clean your glass if you're wanting to try just an ounce or two of the different beers they have on tap. There are 14 spigots on the wall, but that day they only had 11 beers on tap including two from the Sierra Nevada brewery, and the rest from Accomplice Brewing Co. Some of the A.B.C. beers included the Skremin' Eagle American Wheat, the Lady Crimson English Ale, and the 6062 Amber Ale. I tried the Nue Dogma New England IPA that was fairly hoppy before trying the Merican Ninja American pale ale that was smooth, but not as hoppy. My wife went right for the Burro Bucker Imperial, a strong IPA with a 9.1% average alcohol content and a bitterness rating of 100+. She seemed to like it, but switched to the New England IPA for her second beer.
(We were told afterward that they were out of their most popular beer - the Lincoln Railway Coast-to-Coast IPA. But they had a neat t-shirt at the front counter - "Drinkin' with Lincoln" with a somewhat surreal caricature of Abraham Lincoln on the front. My wife bought it for me. It's pretty cool.)
The food menu at Accomplice Beer was decidedly fast casual with a number of appetizers and beer snacks such as a diced-spicy tuna tostada, poutine, chicken wings and boneless pork wings. The menu also featured salads, as well as artisan pizzas and combo entrees such as grilled cod tacos and fries, one pound of ribs, and a locally-made beer bratwurst. A kale salad came with the combo plates.
As I said, I wasn't overly hungry, but my wife was needing something to eat. She ended up ordering the hot and crunchy chicken tenders. They were coated with a corn flake and chili powder, and served with a habanero/passion fruit sauce on the side. There were four or five small chicken strips in the basket that the waitress brought out. I had one just to try it and l thought they were just all right. The crunchiness of the outer shell was fine, but I didn't think they were all that spicy. Even the habanero/passion fruit sauce didn't help the taste of them. I thought they were somewhat overpriced for $10.95.
While we thought the food was pretty average for what we got at Accomplice Brewing Company, we thought the beer was very good. The "pour-your-own" concept is starting to pop up at a handful of places I've been to and it's fun trying different types of beers before deciding upon one to have in either a pint or snifter glass. But the ambiance of the brewpub in the historic and ornate old depot was really the nicest part of the visit to Accomplice Beer Company. For a shot in the dark stop, this turned out to be a pretty memorable experience. Well, other than the chicken tenders being mediocre and over-priced, this was a nice stop for us.