sinclair's Review

I was staying at the Holiday Inn Express about 400 feet away from the Holiday House, so I walked over to check it out at 23:00 on a Saturday night. The establishment is no longer called Holiday House. The new name is Smokin’ Barrels. The front of the building is a family friendly restaurant serving burgers, sandwiches, and steaks. The rear of the building is the bar and strip club. The entrance to the strip club part of the building is on the east side of the building, facing away from town. There was no cover charge. A bottle of Budweiser was $3. The same food from the front diner can be ordered in the bar. The inside is decorated with beer, sports, and hunting memorabilia, such as stuffed pheasant. There are three lottery machines on the wall, and a Touchtunes jukebox provides the music. There are two stages: one in the main room and one in the add-on area beyond the “garage door”. The add-on area also has its own small bar. There is a metal spiral staircase that leads up to the second floor of the building, which has a wraparound balcony that overlooks the main room of the bar. The private dance area is upstairs.

I did not see any scantily clad women walking around or using the stages, so I asked the bartender, Nicole, if Smokin’ Barrels was still a titty bar like the Holiday House. She said they only have dancers during the hunting season. The rest of the year, there is not enough local demand to warrant having strippers. Since pheasant season will be from October 19, 2019 to January 5, 2020, this is when Smokin’ Barrels should have dancers working. I guess you could label this place as a seasonal strip club. Posters on the wall indicated a male revue was coming to the bar in a couple weeks for a weekend show.

If you are stuck in Winner outside of hunting season, Smokin’ Barrels is a good bar to hang out at. The other two bars in town are on Main Street. The Black Lab is where the younger crowd congregates on Friday and Saturday nights. Pheasant Bar has an older crowd and is more of a dive. Years ago, Pheasant Bar used to bring in dancers during pheasant season, but they no longer do this. All of the bars in Winner will have a good number of Rosebud Sioux, since the reservation to the west is dry.