Saturday 28th of November 2015 09:14:30 AM

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On rolling hills just south of mountains, the city of Laramie is home to almost 35,000 people. It has 3 local craft brewpubs, located within a couple blocks of one another, and there are plenty of places to eat and drink in this area. The city buildings are one or two stories, and parking is free along the street. Altitude Chophouse is a two-story brick building with a large black awning with their name over the front entrance. Just inside is the dining area with plenty of tables and booths, separated by chest-high partitions. The floor is wooden, the high ceiling is painted black, and the walls are lightly decorated with a wilderness theme. Further back is the L-shaped wooden bar with uncomfortable but distinctive wooden stump barstools. The left wall has shelves full of mug club glass steins and a variety of liquor and wine. A large chalkboard lists their beer on tap, and the taphandles are small themed sculptures. A large window behind the looks into the brewhouse, where they have short stainless steel brewing vessels and a few stainless steel tank fermenters. They have 13 house beers on tap, which are available by glass, 6-beer sampler flight, or growler. These are well crafted and cover a great variety of styles, with a few creative seasonals. My favorites were their IPA and Belgian Blonde Ale. Their food menu consists of appetizers, gourmet salads, a variety of burgers and sandwiches, and a great offering of meat, seafood and poultry entrees. They pride themselves on using fresh, local ingredients, and the food is masterfully prepared. The staff is cordial and professional, and the place has a happy, social dining atmosphere.

Wednesday 2nd of April 2008 05:59:11 PM

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C'mon! What else are you going to do in Laramie?
This place's flaw is in that it's trying to be upscale in a low-scale town, so it ends up just being strange.
At the bar (which is not its focus, so you're pushed out of the way a bit), you sit on logs. No, not wood, LOGS. That would be strange in itself, but the bar is also set up so that you look right at the food prep area and the kitchen. The tables are oriented better, with several by the window looking out onto the street.
The beer, for me, was disappointing. They have the usual choices (stout, pale, red, porter, wheat, light) but none are really standouts.
The food is expensive and not really that good, although, granted, from the name, it's obvious that steaks are their focus and I didn't have that. But, to be fair, I was traveling with a guy who didn't like his beer or his food that much.
Why I came back here instead of trying the place across the street (Library) I don't really understand now. Maybe it just seemed better the first time around.

Sunday 9th of March 2008 02:47:11 PM

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Just returned from a friendly road trip up to Laramie from FC and found this delightful brewpub for a great lunch on a rather cold wintery day. Lunch crowd was standard for a Saturday when nothing much was happending in this town.

First the beer, which included a nice variety from light to dark, including a porter and a stout. Three seasonals included a wonderful wizenbock that I enjoyed. Nice flavor and a great taste that did not overpower our lunch. The stout had a stong chocolate and expresso flavor but again it was not too much for the light meal that we ordered. Too bad that this place is so far off the beaten path, but we will know where to go before the Cowboy-Rams game next fall. Hope the fact that they do not open until 11 am does not get in the way of a place for a pregame meal and drink.

Food and service was top notch and we were most impressed with the freshness of the lunch order. I had a blackened shrimp buritto that was not just out of the frozen variety that you find so much of out here in the Plains. My wife had a great veggie panino plus she was happy with the sun dried tomatoe won tons. Prices for food and beer were more than reasonable and could almost be considered underpriced especially since the cost of beer has increased over the last three months.

Overall, we were pleased with the beer and food plus the service and decor of this place adds to it being a great place for lunch/dinner. While we were having lunch at least four people came in to fill up growlers for the weekend so I am pretty sure that the locals enjoy this as much as people just passing through. Street parking is plentiful so that was not an issue. Pretty sure there was a small room with a couple of pool tables available for recreation. Plus they have Sirius radio on for background music which was tuned to a nice mellow rock/folk/alternative style. I guess you can tell I was impressed overall with this brewpub.