Last year, Laramie-based Bond’s Brewing Co. won a silver medal at the World Beer Cup — the Olympics of beer competitions — and this year is bringing home a bronze.
Its stout won silver last year and its pumpkin beer, called Jack O’Lantern, won bronze this year.
But the beer that wins the customer’s choice more often than not is truly one of a kind.
It’s a pink beer called Rhuberry and, surprise, it’s not just women who like to drink it.
“It’s definitely one of our best sellers,” co-owner Mallory Bond told Cowboy State Daily. “You see a lot of men drinking pink beer, which is just awesome.”
What’s a Rhuberry?
Rhuberry has a light, refreshing taste with just a hint of acid that goes well with the shrimp tacos sold on site by the Chaco’s Tacos food truck.
There’s an undeniable hint of fruit in this beer, and a slight sweetness, all of which will pair very well with nearly any seafood, as well as pork and poultry.
Inspiration for this delightful pink beer happened while Mallory and her husband Jay were still hobby brewers, just making beers to suit their own tastes at home.
At the time, the couple were likely to try anything and everything, Jay recalled.
“When you first start home brewing, you just have all these crazy ideas,” he said. “Like chocolate, vanilla, mocha peanut. You know, you just want to throw all these ingredients in a beer.”
But after tasting said beer, the wise brewer starts to backtrack.
“You start making it more simplified,” Jay said. “Because if it gets too complex it just doesn’t work. Sometimes, simplicity is the best answer.”
Then again, sometimes beginner ideas turn out after all. And that’s how Rhuberry came to be.
“That’s real rhubarb, raspberries and strawberries in that beer,” Jay said. “And it’s (our) most popular beer in Laramie, actually.”
Rhuberry, a pink beer, pairs extremely well with shrimp owing to the hint of fruitiness and sweetness in the beer. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Rhuberry may look like pink lemonade, but its beer infused with the flavors of rhubarb, raspberries and strawberries. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Serving up a shrimp taco from Chacos next to Bonds Brewing Co. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Chachos Food Truck is often at Bonds Brewing Co. (Renée Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Hobby Came First
The Bonds got started with home brewing when they were still dating.
“When we met, we were both living in Sheridan,” Mallory recalled. “And I had a lot of friends who were in the home-brew club, so it was just kind of a big thing.”
They often visited Colorado, which has a flourishing craft beer scene as well, to try new beers. One day, they visited a brewery that happened to be right next to a dream store for home brewers.
Though the two had cashed out to go home, Jay did an about-face when he noticed the home brewer store and bought everything he’d need to make his first beer.
It was a generic, hoppy pale ale, but that’s all it took. Jay was hooked.
“Jay has always liked cooking,” Mallory said. “And I think that helps. He has such a good palate, so it just kind of works.”
Eventually, Jay and Mallory had made so many of their own delicious beers they were no longer interested in visiting other breweries to try new brews. They just wanted to stay home and drink their own beers.
That’s when they realized they had something special, something marketable. At the same time, the pair also wanted to move back to Wyoming.
“Denver was kind of a little bit too big for us,” Mallory said. “We started crunching numbers to see if it was a feasible situation to start our own brewery.”
Bigger Is Better
Bond’s Brewing opened in July 2019 at 411 S. 2nd St. in Laramie with high hopes and big dreams, which were almost dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Honestly, that was really, really scary,” Mallory said.
“It was horrible, horrible,” Jay agreed.
The community rallied to help save their business.
“We hadn’t even been open for a full year when everything kind of happened,” Mallory said. “The community was just great. We were open a few hours of the day for just growler fills. That was just enough to keep us going, just enough to get us by.”
With the pandemic now in the rearview, Bond’s Brewing has solid numbers every month. Three weeks ago, in fact, they opened a brand-new brewery in Buffalo.
Jay, who is working on his next unique beer flavor — pineapple habanero — doesn’t foresee ever feeling burned out by this new hobby turned business.
“This is a really fun industry to be in,” he said. “It’s really chill and, you know, the people are really good. Everybody in the industry is really fun to hang around with.”
The only thing he’s having trouble deciding on right now is whether the brewery should expand next to a new state, or whether it should build a big production facility or maybe a big distillery.
“There will be something happening with one of those three,” he said. “I just don’t know which one yet.”
And that’s OK, too. There’s plenty more beer to pour and time to decide.
Renee Jean can be reached at: Renee@CowboyStateDaily.com
