Black Hills Contraband: Rapid City’s first and only distillery

Photo Courtesy of Black Hills Contraband website

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Black Hills Contraband, a distillery and speakeasy, makes and offers several products, liquors and food for people to stop by and enjoy in downtown Rapid City.

“We’re Rapid City’s first and only distillery in the history of Rapid City,” Jerry Sailer, the owner of the distillery explains. “We’re right here, downtown on Kansas City Street, and we love to have friends come down and say hi and experience a wonderful product.”

The products that Sailer wants people to come down and experience are all made at the distillery.

“We make everything here on site. We have 24 products that we off-sale and we make over 60 different liquors that we serve in mixed drinks. Our number one seller is our smooth bourbon, and our claim to fame is no burn-no bite. Coco-Cola will burn more than our Bourbons do. Our second biggest seller is our new McRoberts Family Scotch, and out third one right now is our new Peach Bourbon.”

With over 60 different liquors, Sailer lists off some of the items they have,

“We’ve got our smooth bourbon. Our royalty, which is very similar to a popular product in a purple bag. We have a wonderful, original amaretto. Our root beer tastes just like the root beer barrel candies. We have a cinnamon, a black licorice, cucumber, and lime vodkas, a lemon, ginger vodka. We have a wonderful, straight vodka that we do that is odorless and tasteless. We even make our own gin. We have coconut rums, buttered rums. We have a dairy-free Irish cream that tastes just like Baileys.”

Much like the distillery making history as the first and only legal distillery, Sailer also has an interesting family history.

“I am a seventh-generation bootlegger in my family, and also the first one to ever get a tax stamp and do this legitimately. So, when I turned 15, my father and my grandfather, that was my birthday present, they taught me how to make the family alcohol. We have fun with it. Our family even has ties to Al Capone during Prohibition. My great Aunt Mary was an English teacher by day in Chicago, and a bootlegger for him by night.”

Not only is the distillery a place to get drinks, Black Hills Contraband also has a restaurant and kitchen.

“We’re a full-service bar. We can make pretty much any mixed drink you’re looking for. We seat 80 people quite comfortably. We can seat up to 100,” Sailer explains. “We have private events down here quite a bit where we rent the whole facility out for the night. We do weddings, parties, all kinds of different things. We have a full kitchen with a nice kitchen menu, so we can also cater private events, or you can just stop in and have a good burger and a drink and relax. We do jazz on Thursday nights, karaoke on Friday nights, and we have live music on Saturday nights.”

Learn more at Black Hills Contraband’s website.