Cocktail Culture—Cocktail Tour of Downtown Rapid City

Behind the bar, two gentlemen are muddling, mixing, shaking, and stirring.  Ice chunks fly as citrus fruits are sliced into rounds and infused vodkas are splashed in to pretty glasses.  The flurry behind the bar isn’t some angry rage being witnessed…it is a frenzy, though…a frenzy of fun cocktails waiting to be appreciated! 

This is exactly what my girlfriends and I did on a recent weekend in downtown Rapid City, South Dakota:  we frolicked in the fun of unique cocktails.  Luckily for us, there are great places to get these libations, all within walking distance of great hotels, creating the perfect trifecta for cocktail enjoyment.

 

Vertex Sky Bar at the top of the Hotel Alex Johnson is the perfect place to start for tasty cocktails.  The interior of the bar is vintage art deco, a perfect throw back to the 1920s.  The gorgeous late afternoon sun reflects off the outdoor fire pits as the sky deck warms patrons’ bodies and the cocktails warm their hearts.

Any fan of the Moscow Mule knows that it is a great first drink for the night.  The light, refreshing citrus and ginger actually act as a palate cleanser prepping for the rest of the evening’s tastings.  Mules are also great drinks for the spring as days and nights begin to heat up for the season.

The next cocktail of interest is the Pineapple Upside Down.  Again, a drink that screams sunshine, the vanilla vodka, Malibu coconut rum, pineapple juice, and Grenadine create perfect sweetness for sipping, as well as create a fabulous-looking drink.

 The Blind Lion is a spot I always feel as if I should keep secret, yet it is such an entertaining environment that I want others to share in the absolute excitement of this hidden gem.  The ambiance of the speakeasy is taken very seriously; nearly every aspect is meant to catapult customers back to the days of prohibition:  phones are discouraged, conversation is stimulated, and drinks are authentic.  Do not come here when in a rush; each of the drinks is meant to sipped and enjoyed at a leisurely pace while reflecting on life’s pleasures. 

The Pear Side Car mixes pear brandy, orange sour, and house-made brown sugar simple syrup with a brown sugar rim to create a beautiful drink.  It is then poured into a martini glass, topped with an orange round, and sprinkled with dried rose petals, creating an absolutely decadent beverage.

My personal favorite is the Lavender Star.  It could be because it is served in a champagne flute, but it could also be because it has vodka and fresh-squeezed lime juice.  No, the best part of this drink is the house-made lavender simple syrup that smells and tastes like spring in a glass.

 

Kol, on the corner of Main Street and Mount Rushmore Road, is one of the hippest places to sip cocktails in downtown Rapid.  Modern and upscale décor prepares customers for the modern and upscale drinks available.  These truly distinctive cocktails are anything but the norm found in the average bar.  They are fun, and yes, maybe a little frivolous—which, frankly, is why they are so enjoyable to drink!

The White Cosmo is truly a beautiful cocktail.  The show piece of this creation is the orchid frozen in a large ball of ice in the center of the martini glass.  Poured over the top of the most beautiful ice ever is a concoction of vodka, elderflower liqueur, lime juice, and white cranberry juice.  

The Red Hot Sangria is an interesting twist on the traditional Spanish wine cocktail.  The base of malbec wine, vanilla vodka, cranberry syrup, and sparkling wine are just the beginning.  The special ingredient is the brandied cranberries, created by macerating the fruit in brandy, Grand Marnier, orange zest, sugar, and cinnamon sticks.

The flurry to make a gorgeous cocktail is intense, but so is the wonderful creation that can result from this unique art form.  Downtown Rapid City has wonderful establishments at which to enjoy many creative libations.  Take a cocktail tour soon and get to know the culture of Rapid. Book a hotel or plan for a ride at the end of the night, then enjoy getting familiar with the bartenders chopping, slicing, mixing, and pouring the coolest drinks in town.  

Let’s Get It Started—Press Start, Rapid City

           Tony DeMaro and company were on a mission:  a mission to create a total adult play land in Rapid City…a mission to put the final touches on projects started years ago...a mission to give the Black Hills the best entertainment.

First there was Murphy’s Pub and Grill, the cool, modern sports bar with forty beers on tap and contemporary pub-style food. 

            Next there was The Blind Lion, the ultra-hip speakeasy hidden below Murphy’s with frequent live music and delicious menu options to pair with the best, hand-crafted cocktails.

            Then there was Kol, the trendy eatery featuring the beautiful coal-fired oven that cooks up the tastiest tidbits to eat while sipping on beautiful concoctions from the bar.

            After this, there was Ignite, the Vegas-style night club that takes over after Kol closes, with pumping DJ beats and a VIP section for bottle service, all while watching acrobats swing from the ceiling.

Yet something was missing.

 

            Where was the casual spot to meet friends for a cheap beer?  The dive bar where everyone wants to hang out?  The one-of-a-kind place to impress friends with…great gaming skills?!

            Finally, all Tony’s bases are covered to provide any type of entertainment on Main Street, Rapid City.  Though it is the latest step in what many consider adult Disneyland, Press Start is definitely more of a beginning than an end.

            Press Start rocks a whole different vibe than Tony’s other establishments.  Saying it is a dive bar is actually quite a stretch.  True, what many consider “cheap” beers are on tap:  Schlitz, Hamm’s, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Bud Light, and Old Milwaukee.  These beers are served in nothing other than red Solo cups.  However, the full bar also features a Boulevard beer, an O’Dell IPA, an oatmeal stout, and other quality selections. 

Beer + the red Solo cup = drink up!

            One reason to come to Press Start might be for the old-school beer selection, but the real motive is probably for a totally different reason—the arcade.  Yes, most customers come to get started on the plethora of vintage video games housed underneath Kol.  Over 50 arcade games from the 1980s and 1990s dot the colorful, Tetris-style floor.  Tony partnered with Marc Lynn, owner of nearly 200 retro games.  Marc wanted others to enjoy his games as much as he did, and partnering with Tony for Press Start was the venue to allow this to happen.

 

 

The "ladies" room door, bar decor, and Tetris floor.

            The games one might expect are there—Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, and Donkey Kong Jr.—but there are other unexpected options, too.  Tron and Dragon’s Lair are very rare selections; so rare, in fact, there are only 14 known Dragon’s Lair machines left in the world, making the one in Press Start very special.  There are also pinball machines, arcade shooters, and skee ball games…and the list goes on.

 

 

Vintage games galore!

Of course, patrons can play these games for personal satisfaction, but that is only half the fun.  Once a new high score is achieved on any game, the player gets a free drink.  If 50 tickets are earned on the shooting or skee ball games, a free drink is again awarded.  Most of these games still only cost a quarter, showing modern inflation who’s boss.  A few of the ticket games do cost two or three quarters, but even that is a steal of a deal in 2016!

Though I am by no means a gamer, one of my friends was back in his element.  He went straight to Q-bert to get in the video game groove.  Next, he moved on to Dig Dug as his senses became more accustomed to the dark room and bright lights.  Finally, he challenged himself with Frogger and had nearly reverted back to his college days of almost thirty years ago.  Then, as his video-game addiction nearly set in again, he remembered “having no girlfriends in college” (his quote, not mine) and stepped away from the machines just in time to go home to his beautiful wife.

Back to the glory days.

As for me, I went straight to Ms. Pac Man (females unite) to try my hand at this game for the first time ever.  (I know I mentioned I wasn’t a gamer, but did I mention my total lack of hand-eye coordination?) When I actually reached the second screen without losing all three of my lives, I felt as if I had conquered the world!  My coordination (or lack of) got the better of me on Dig Dug and Frogger, so I decided to make friends with some actual gamers.

Must. Document. Gaming.

Press Start has quite a following of regulars.  The two gentlemen I watched have had high scores (and won drinks) on multiple games.  Frogger and Pac Man are two of their favorites.  They see Press Start as a cool place to go with reasonably-priced drinks and entertainment.  They both love the ambiance that takes them back to a simpler time in their lives.  It’s fun and comfortable, lively but not obnoxious.  It is a way to play while still being social, qualities lost on today’s gamers glued to their iPhone or X-Boxes all alone at home. 

Gamers unite!

          Press Start is surely not the end of the ever-evolving entertainment provided by Tony DeMaro and his team.  They continue to prove they are no “one-trick pony” with each new business they open.  Murphy’s filled one niche, while The Blind Lion filled another.  Kol and Ignite definitely attracted additional patrons, but there was still a gap.   

          This gap has been filled.  Press Start has launched yet another revolution in downtown Rapid City entertainment…and it only takes a quarter to begin.            

           

Yak is the New Black--Yak Ridge

As Julie Smoragiewicz walks up the short hill behind her home in the beautiful Black Hills, she shakes her bucket of treats.  The large pellets of compressed alfalfa make a familiar noise, and her furry pets come running toward the fence line to greet her for their special snack. 

 

These are no average pets.  

These are large, woolly, horned, and unique; so unique, that they are the only ones of their kind in the area. 

 

Julie is feeding her yaks, the animals that gave her and her husband Jim’s farmstead, Yak Ridge, its name. Although more known for calling the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet home, this small herd lives just a few miles outside of Rapid City. 

Yaks waiting for snacks.

Though neither Jim nor Julie was raised on a farm or ranch, all four of Julie’s great-great grandparents homesteaded on the other side of South Dakota, and Jim’s father was a young, farm boy in Poland before moving to the United States.  All of these familial influences worked into the formation of Yak Ridge.  Attempting to connect to the land and be more self-sufficient were important to the Smoragiewiczs, especially after the death of Jim’s dad.  They felt this little bit of land helped honor him and his Polish ancestry.

The idea may seem very unusual, but raising yaks made perfect sense to Julie and Jim. When planning their farmstead, the two did much research to decide what livestock to raise.  They looked into sheep, goats, and cows.  However, the benefits of raising yaks kept outweighing what they learned about other possibilities.

Yaks are very self-sufficient while being easy on the environment.  For their size, they eat less food than other herds and produce less waste, as well.  Because of this, pound-for-pound, they take less of a toll on their surroundings and their owners’ pocketbooks.  Keep in mind where these animals originated, and it is clear that they can be left alone for longer periods of time, even in the winter.  Yaks will break through ice to find water if they have a source nearby and will even eat snow instead of drinking water.  They will also dig through snow, much like buffalo, to scavenge for food underneath. 

Yaks give birth to smaller young, making it easier for caregivers and healthier for both yak momma and yak baby.  They are also very, very friendly animals.  Yak young are incredibly playful, and when raised with regular interaction with humans, trust is developed with the caregivers—much like Julie and her social, furry friends. 

The yaks at Yak Ridge.

The benefits Julie and Jim learned aren’t just about caring for their animals, yet that is a major plus.  Yaks produce many products.  Yes, they have tasty, lean, red meat that can be cooked just like beef, but there are also other uses for yak goods.  The milk is high in fat, making wonderful cheeses, butters, and yogurts.  The wool can be harvested from trimming the long yak skirts or combing the thick under-layer of yak fur.  They can even use their own fitness to be pack animals—remember yaks were originally used for this in the cold, Himalayan Mountains—and can carry up to 300 pounds of cargo.

 

If all of these reasons weren’t enough, the glorious hillside just opposite the newly-built Smoragiewicz home is in the shape of a yak’s back, the buffalo-like hump of the shoulders clearly visible through the trees.

Yak Ridge

Yes, Yak Ridge was meant to be. 

However, it isn’t just a place to pet a friendly yak or source some wonderfully-lean meat.  Yak Ridge is so much more.  Jim and Julie also built three guest cabins in addition to their home, garage, and barn.  These cabins—which were first rented out to the public this fall—sleep 4-6 people, with private kitchens, baths, and porches for Black Hills travelers to enjoy.  In the summer and fall, the front porch flower boxes are actually not filled with flowers but with tomato and herb plants for use in the modern kitchens.   

Books about yaks in the cute, comfy, and modern cabins.

There are plans for two more cottages in the future, but it is important for Julie—former owner and chef of Dakota Thyme in Rapid City—to keep the operation small enough for the two of them to manage and maintain all aspects of the business on their own, while still having some semblance of a life Jim and Julie can enjoy.

Other small expansion plans are in the works, but most of these plans are Mother Nature’s doings, not necessarily Julie’s.  For instance, over 40 baby chickens are currently growing in Julie’s new barn.  They should be laying eggs by the spring.  The bees living in Yak Ridge’s hives produced an abundance of honey this fall, and signs are good that will continue for next year as well. 

Yak Ridge's chickens...staying warm.

A slight expansion is planned for the yak herd…actually quite soon.  One of Julie’s cows will be giving birth to the newest addition of the Smoragiewicz herd next month!  Yak Ridge will soon have a baby in its midst.

As Julie gives one more treat to Houdini—her steer that is soon headed for the greener pastures of yak heaven—she ruffles the fur on another yak nudging its way toward the treat bucket.  The friendly livestock has surely made the past construction-filled year at Yak Ridge worth every moment.  She has gotten to know more about these majestic creatures, all while creating an inviting place for tourists to stay. Yak Ridge is definitely in style as it helps Jim and Julie live the lifestyle they desire.  

Houdini eating his treat!