Cowboy State Daily’s ‘Drinking Wyoming’ is presented by Pine Bluffs Distilling

ALADDIN — At most bars, bartenders will tell you they can make anything. They know all the “usuals.”

They can make margaritas, whiskey sours, old fashioneds. They’ve got red wine. They’ve got white wine. And they’ve got beer, including Wyoming craft beers.

In other words, they’ve got the same-old, same-old.

But when you walk into the Aladdin General Store, what you’ll find are some truly creative cocktails. They’re not the same-old, same-old.

Like this year’s Sturgis rally drink, designed by Jordan Yates, a self-taught mixologist who has been working at the Aladdin General Store for five years with her fiance and bar owner Trent Tope.

The drink is called The Hurricane. It’s a simple shot of Koltiska, a Sheridan Wyoming liquor and not to be confused with the signature drink of New Orleans of the same name.

What you’re buying at Aladdin is not just a drink. It’s an experience.

For this drink, the bartender climbs on top of the bar and sits in front of the customer. The shot of Koltiska is poured directly into the customer’s mouth. Then, after the customer successfully swallows the drink, there’s a bit of a unique water chaser.

Water is actually flung into the customer’s face, and then is slapped. Not too hard, but it’s enough to make a sound.

“For the (Sturgis Motorcycle) Rally, we kind of do more shots that are out there,” Yates told Cowboy State Daily. “If you can get an experience with a drink too, then that’s a good way for the bartender to make more money, too.”

The Hurricane costs $40. The bar only keeps $5 of that. The bartender gets the rest.

Who’s Buying These Drinks

While it seems like no one would voluntarily pay $40 for a shot and a slap in the face, Yates averages 15 to 25 Hurricanes a day during the two to three weeks in and around South Dakota’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

“Some of the ones I’ve served were wives buying them for their husbands,” Yates said.

Other times, someone was just curious and brave enough to take a shot in the dark, because Yates won’t tell them what’s all involved with the drink is until they buy one.

There was something contagious, though, about the drink because after one person bought one, pretty much everyone else in the bar would follow suit, Yates said.

During the rally week, The Aladdin General Store bar was always filled to the brim. It was standing room only for this historic 128-year-old stop that’s right across from the South Dakota border.

While Cowboy State Daily was there, several bikers who had found the place for the first time walked in and their immediate reaction was, “Awesome! I like this place, it’s so cool.”

They took a seat on the rustic wooden bar stools draped with animal fur and ordered a beer or a shot in a place that combines history with a kitschy ambiance. Historic brands on the front of the bar speak to the area’s rich, ranching roots, while jars of Vienna sausages, rebranded as Porcupine Peters or Chorizo De Coyote are offered for sale.

The Aladdin General Store also offers a range of alcoholic products that include Wyoming craft beers and liquors. Black Tooth Brewing Co.’s Hot Streak is one of the more popular beers, while the shot of Koltiska is the bar’s No. 1 seller.

The seemingly never-ending stream of rallygoers visiting the location has provided an enormous financial boost to the Aladdin General Store over the past five years that Yates and Tope have owned it. They estimate that up to half their annual business happens during the month of the Sturgis rally.

“For the rally, we have some of the bartenders who are hired just as shots girls,” Yates said. “They specialize more in shots. So it’s the fun shots, and the specialty shots too.”

Specialty shots are a little more than a simple shot of Jack Daniels or Fireball.

“These are more like lemon drop shots and stuff that take a little bit more to create,” Yates said. “But we always try to have fun with the cocktail menu.”

Year-Round Creativity

But it’s not just during the Sturgis rally that Yates’ creativity is on tap at the Aladdin General Store. She is always dreaming up new cocktails for upcoming events the bar plans — Christmas, Fall Festival, St. Patrick’s Day — there’s always something going on that makes a great excuse for a party, and the Aladdin General Store is more than happy to take advantage.

“Right now what I’m working on is the Fall Festival,” Yates said of the store’s annual autumn celebration. “I actually grow pumpkins out back here, and then I make a pumpkin mix out of them.”

That fresh pumpkin mixture gets used for pumpkin pie shots, which also include a bit of Mozart Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Liqueur, vanilla vodka, and cream.

“It’s so nice and creamy,” Yates said. “We do a little whipped cream on the top of it, and that’s usually one of our biggest hit.”

The Pumpkin Pie Martini is another popular one, that has just a bit more of the vanilla vodka, and is less creamy.

To round out the menu, there’s a margarita that uses apple cider, caramel apple butter rum, and an apple cider Moscow mule.

“You always have to have a margarita on the menu, right?” Yates said. “We dip the rim of that in caramel, then do a bit of salt on it, so it’s a salted caramel rim.”

The Fall Festival includes a crockpot cook-off, which is open to any dish that’s cooked in a crockpot, whether it’s chili, bread, cobbler or something else.

“It was perfect last year because we had people who made full meals in their crockpots and people who made desserts, so it was a full meal for everyone,” Yates said. “Every year that gets a little bit bigger. Last year we had 200 people.”

Aladdin has a population of just 15, so the event is clearly bringing in a lot of tourists who don’t live in the community, and it’s just another vital part of keeping a piece of 128-year-old history alive.

Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.

The San Francisco Giants were able to break their losing streak on Friday against the Atlanta Braves and will look to start a winning streak as they start a two-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.

The Giants lost four games in a row before Friday’s win. Though they are back to a .500 record, their playoff hopes have taken a huge hit thanks to their recent struggles. They have no hopes of winning the NL West and are three games out of a Wild Card spot.

If San Francisco can take advantage of an Athletics squad that has the third-worst record in MLB with a sweep, they’ll be feeling much better about their odds.

Tyler Fitzgerald has continued to be a huge source of offense for the team through their struggles, so they will be looking to him to keep the hits coming.

Fitzgerald has a slashing line of .350/.385/.683 in the month of August, making him the hottest bat on the team.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be rookie starter Hayden Birdsong.

Birdsong got off to a nice start to his career but has pitched very poorly in his last two outings. He and the coaching staff will be looking to do things a bit differently on Saturday.

He has a 17.05 ERA over 6.1 innings pitched in his last two starts. Batters are slugging an absurd .345/.424/.897 against him in that time. It’s a small sample size, but a worrying sign for the rookie.

The 22-year-old has given up a lot of home runs this season. Luckily for him, the Athletics are one of the weaker teams in the league in terms of power. It could be a nice matchup for Birdsong.

San Francisco’s offense will be taking on rookie Osvaldo Bido for the first time.

Bido, unlike Birdsong, has played his best baseball to start August. He has a 1.50 ERA over 12 innings pitched over his last two games. Batters are slashing just .195/.283/.268 against him.

The two offenses that he’s faced have been the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, both of which have been better than the Giants as of late.

Oddsmakers have this one slightly into San Francisco’s favor as road favorites. The moneyline odds are -120 for the Giants and EVEN for Oakland. The runline is -1.5 with +145 odds. The over/under is at 7.5 which is a bit below average.

The Denver Broncos‘ joint practice sessions with the Green Bay Packers on Friday provided another test for rookie quarterback Bo Nix. In what’s becoming a recurring theme, the Broncos starting-quarterback-in-waiting sailed through the challenge with a calm serenity, which is coming to typify his focused personality.

It’s already well-documented that Nix is wowing his own teammates, but he also impressed the league’s highest-paid cornerback, Jaire Alexander, as practice wore on under a Mile-High sun.

“I like Bo Nix,” Alexander said, via Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette. “I think he’s a young talent and I think he’s gonna be a pretty good quarterback in this league… As practice went along, his decision-making became crisper. It became better. He carries himself like a veteran.”

On the doorstep of his first professional start, Nix looks like a rookie in name only, according to Alexander. Perhaps his level of comfortability should be chalked up to the NCAA-record 61 college starts spanning the SEC and PAC-12.

While that experience undoubtedly plays its part, Nix has a method of keeping himself relaxed and mentally in tune with what he needs to do so that pressure can be managed.

“I learned early in college that the more pressure you put on yourself, the tougher it is to go out there and play free,” Nix admitted. “Over the past couple of seasons, I feel like I’ve played more and more free. That’s contributed to the good days. There’s enough pressure on you already, so you might as well just go out there and have fun playing the game of football. Not many people get this opportunity, and I’m just blessed to be here and be part of such a great team and great organization. I still always wake up and be like, ‘You know what? I get to go practice for an NFL team today.’ So can’t imagine what it is like playing on Sundays yet, but we’re almost there.”

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In all fairness, Packers superstar quarterback Jordan Love looked far less composed than Nix did during the joint practices. Much like Week 7 last year, the Broncos’ aggressive defense caused him problems all day long.

Following practice, Love was magnanimous enough to tip his cap to Nix, admitting that he’s a big fan of the Broncos’ rookie and what he can do over the long haul.

“I’m a big supporter of Bo Nix,” Love remarked, via Tomasson. “We’ll see what pans out in that QB situation… I wish him all the best if he gets an opportunity to start, play in some games this year. He’s in it for the long journey, keep stepping up and get better every day.”

As the days and practice sessions slide by, Nix is undeniably cementing his position as the probable starter for Broncos head coach Sean Payton moving forward. That being said, and as Nix’s Packers counterpart can attest to, the NFL’s challenges only increase in ferocity.

Therefore, Nix is well aware that the best way to navigate the notoriously steep NFL learning curve is by fully committing to improving daily.

“It’s steep, but I think whenever you learn a new offense or whenever you get into a new level [or a] new scheme, it’s always going to be different,” Nix said about embracing the process. “There is always going to be learning curves and there is always going to be a lot of change. You just have to adapt to the change and welcome the change as much as possible. Just kind of make things normal, make a new routine and get in there and study real hard and make sure you know what you’re doing. Even today in practice, you have to think through plays. Even though you go through it the night before, you might get a different look, or you may get something that you haven’t talked about and you have to kind of rely on your reaction. It’s definitely steep, but so far, I feel comfortable and I’m excited to move forward and learn even more.” 

The Broncos ascending rookie might be calm as the hype starts to snowball, but the fans might start losing their minds real soon.

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