CHEYENNE, Wyo. — There’s a strong bond between the Westby family and the city of Cheyenne.
With the family being longtime volunteers at Cheyenne Frontier Days — including having father Darin Westby serving as CFD’s general chairman for a period of time — Misha Westby, Darin’s wife, said that they wanted to create something that would help give back to a city that they said has given them so much. When the family then caught wind of the voter-supported Reed Avenue Rail Corridor project, a city-backed revitalization of a former industry-heavy area, they saw an opportunity to do so.
And with the family’s big dreams and ideas in tow, Westby Edge Brewing Company should be ready in time for Cheyenne’s signature event this summer.
A massive property on 714 W. 20th St., once used as the former corporate home for Taco John’s, will be the site of the Westby’s ambitious bar and grill concept, an endeavor that will feature a massive bar area, event space and office rentals as part of a “gathering place” for Cheyenne, Misha said.
But the signature feature of the business will be its microbrewery, adding a new option for craft beer lovers in the city that’ll be spearheaded by brewer Brennan Westby, one of Misha’s daughters. With numerous relatives pitching in to help make the place ready in time for the warmer temperatures, it truly is a family affair for what Misha hopes is a popular family-friendly option in the city.
“We think this provides such an opportunity to be an anchor business on the West Edge and for the Reed Avenue Rail Corridor,” Misha said. “It just has the possibility of bringing so many people to this area. … We want to have package liquor, we want to do catering and we’re going to have a little bit of food [on site]. … We think that we have a large enough seating capacity, a large enough area that we can really make a difference.”
The family wants the property to be the centerpiece of both the Reed Avenue project and the West Edge development plan, an extension of downtown that looks to intertwine with the rail corridor for a large-scale redevelopment project in the city.
With so much square footage at their disposal — Misha noted that there was 10,000 square feet of outdoor space alone — the Westby’s prospects are as big as the property. Misha remarked that the brewery itself will feature a seating capacity of 250 people, plus an additional 125 seats available for overflow in a separate event space on the main floor.
The main bar will be 47 feet long and feature a food kitchen behind the counter, with two nearby additional U-shaped auxiliary bars looped around half-glass garage doors that will let in fresh air in warm weather. There’ll even be some swings incorporated into the bar seating to make for a unique place to settle (Misha said she and her husband got the idea while in a bar on a vacation in Texas) and extra amenities like space for live music and a child-friendly area that includes games to cure kid boredom.
And that’s not all. There’s also a second floor that will lead to a set of office spaces that can be rented out in addition to the aforementioned separate event space. Amanda Escobedo, another one of Misha’s daughters, will be the event planner for Westby Edge, and she has expressed excitement about the possibilities and creativity ahead.
“We don’t really have a ton of options in the way of just event spaces in Cheyenne,” Escobedo said. “You have to get creative. So I think this is going to be unique. It’s not a giant ballroom; it can take on whatever vision people may have for it. It can be really rustic, or it can be a little bit more fancy and elegant for weddings.”
Many customers will be especially eager to try the beer on tap when Westby Edge opens, and that’s where Brennan comes in. A former apprentice at Danielmark’s Brewing Company, she learned there both how to make beer and how Cheyenne prefers to drink it. And with only four breweries in Cheyenne at the moment, she saw a need and wanted to put her skills to the test on a larger scale.
The beer lineup is going to be simple at first — a lager and some IPAs will feature on the list at grand opening, among other brews — but Brennan is looking forward to hearing about what the community wants to see and developing recipes as time goes along. Misha also added that there’s interest in encouraging home brewers to bring in batches of their own creations to collaborate for sales at the brewery.
“Cheyenne needs more breweries, and we’re not so small that we can’t have new breweries,” Brennan said. “And it seems like the people really enjoy visiting each brewery. … I’m definitely more than willing to listen to what people have to say.”
Westby Edge LLC applied for the new liquor license granted to Cheyenne from the state at the beginning of this year, and will have its presentation seen before the city council at a March 29 work session, the second of two meetings the governing body will conduct to hear proposals from license applicants. It won’t mean an end to the project if Westby Edge doesn’t receive the license in April, Misha noted, but the business model would have to change to fit regulations — which would mean no catering or package liquor services.
Nonetheless, Westby Edge will push through whatever happens over the next few weeks and be open for business in the coming months. And whether it’s an 11 a.m. office meeting, 5 p.m. family dinner or 1 a.m. night out with friends, the Westby family hopes they’ll be able to provide something for everyone.
“What’s unique about this property is that for one thing, it’s giant,” Misha said. “It has the capacity to bring so many people downtown; it backs up right to the Reed Avenue corridor project. … People can come have dinner, they can listen to some music [or] they can dance. We’re hoping for it to be a hub to bring people downtown and to bring people onto the West Edge and provide that space.”
