Wyoming
Drinking Wyoming: The Hurricane In Aladdin — A Shot And Slap In The…
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.”
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A rare quiet moment during the Sturgis Rally week at the Aladdin General Store’s bar. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Trent Tope, right, talks to some customers at the Aladdin General Store’s bar during Sturgis Rally week. The bar is popular stopping point for motorcyclists driving the Devils Tower loop. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Hurricane Shots are just $40. What are they? A shot that comes with an unusual water chaser, and a Titanic slap at the end. Bartender Jordan Yates said she sold an average of 15 to 20 of the shots each day during rally week. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
It may say Wedding Fund on the front, but it says something entirely different on the back. It was turned around too quickly for Cowboy State Daily to read, but it was something like Stripper Pole Fund. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Visitors like to leave dollar bills with messages on them. They’re taped to the ceiling in the Aladdin General Store’s bar. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
The liquor cabinet at the Aladdin General Store has a surprising amount of diversity, with things like pumpkin chocolate liqueur, vanilla vodka, and Koltiska for the infamous Hurricane shot. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
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.
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The Aladdin General Store in Aladdin, Wyoming. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
The old cash register at the Aladdin General Store still works, and is used daily. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Trent Tope makes change using the old cash register in the Aladdin General Store’s bar. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Fun photos of fun times at the Aladdin General Store’s bar decorate the walls. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
The 128-year-old Aladdin General Store has a lot of history behind it. The bar has preserved a number of brands from ranches in the area. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Some of the unique products for sale at the Aladdin General Store. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Black Tooth Brewing’s Hot Streak is a top-selling beer at the Aladdin General Store. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) -
Just like Vegas, what happens in Aladdin stays in Aladdin. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
Related
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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