Drinking Wyoming: The Blanca Tatanka Is Reimagining Cody’s Cocktail Culture

Cowboy State Daily’s 'Drinking Wyoming' is sponsored by Pine Bluffs Distilling.

CODY — There’s no shortage of cowboy or Western-themed bars in Cody and around the Cowboy State, and the owners of The Blanca Tatanka Restaurant and Bar in Cody aren’t trying to reinvent that wheel.

Instead, theirs is a whole different approach to provide something a little more refined in Cody where all customers feel comfortable.

Blanca Tatanka means “white buffalo.” That’s about as close as the business gets to being pretentious, but it does provide a slightly elevated experience from your standard beer and cheeseburger bar fare. It’s creative and well-executed cocktails elevate the local bar scene.

“We wanted to do something different in Cody and just make it a little above and beyond what the typical place might be,” Vander Werff said.

The target audience is young to middle-aged adults and tourists who maybe want something a little more than a bar when they go out, and also want something a little more than a restaurant.

Started On A Whim

When Cody Realtor Jake Ivanoff bought Buffalo Bill’s Cody Motor Lodge a few years ago with his friend Justin Vander Werff, the pair didn’t really know what the future had in store beyond spying a business opportunity in a prime location. After performing a mass renovation of all 30 rooms. Ivanoff and Vander Werff reopened the motel as the Scout Inn.

With the purchase of that motel on downtown Sheridan Avenue also came ownership of a space that had previously housed a Smoker’s Friendly tobacco shop.

Because of the proximity of the shop to the motel, Vander Werff said guests naturally assumed they could smoke in their rooms.

“We were like, ‘We’ve got to get rid of this place,’” he said.

Vander Werff had dreamed of starting his own music venue when he moved to Cody eight years ago. That dream meshed perfectly with the size of the space the tobacco shop offered, a perfect home for a future restaurant or bar that could host music.

Although the shop wasn’t much to look at then, the pair saw potential, particularly for streetside outdoor seating that could be used on warm summer days, which also could help make the space feel a little bigger.

They gutted the building and gave it a fresh new look, blanketing the walls with a clean palette of white paint and stringing new fixtures and warm lighting. The desired vibe, as Ivanoff described it, is Buffalo Bill meets Matthew McConaughey.

“That was a big part of it, making that dark, dingy Smoker Friendly vibe be gone,” Vander Werff said.

Next, they called in another friend, Tanner Beemer, who already had strong experience running the Silver Dollar Bar in Cody. Beemer became a third partner in The Blanca Tatanka and is its head manager.

“He’s the one we called in to really make the thing work,” Vander Werff said.

Beemer said the experience has been freeing, allowing him to make certain decisions that he may not have been able to in the past such as including small inside jokes and intentional typos on the menu.

“That kind of freedom is pretty cool, to try and have fun with things people don’t have fun with all the time,” he said.

Different Kind Of Drinking Experience

Beemer said Tatanka aims to bring more of a “cocktail culture” to Cody.

“It’s just a nice little spot that people enjoy,” he said.

Tatanka has about 15 signature craft cocktails on its menu, which doesn’t count the roughly 50 other drinks its bartenders can pour on demand. This likely represents the largest cocktail menu in Cody.

The menu was inspired by the experience of lead bartender Tory Beemer gained while working in New York City for about 10 years.

“She kind of had a really good understanding of a higher-end cocktail that’s really done well and just a little bit different than a Jack and Coke,” Vander Werff said. “Just an elevated version of some classics.”

Beemer said 75% of the drinks are Tatanka-spin offs of traditional cocktails, while about 25% are pure originals that Tory Beemer developed throughout the years. All are made from scratch.

OG Flavors

The bar offers a true whiskey sour, egg white included, for those looking for a refreshing mixed drink on a hot summer’s night.

Another notable drink is the Bees Knees, a classic gin and lemon cocktail mixed with honey and rich bitters. Despite its highly potent alcohol content, the drink goes down as easy as a cool lemonade.

“Something cool, something different that you can’t really get most places here,” Vander Werff said about the execution of cocktails.

The Smokey Pines is a Tatanka original that comes with some spice and tang.

Those seeking even more of a pick-me-up should look no farther than the Dude’s Abide, a Big Lebowski-inspired White Russian-type drink with vodka, coffee liqueur, chocolate bitters and nutmeg. The menu makes reference to the movie in that the drink “really ties the menu together.”

“I’ve always just wanted to make little jokes on the menu,” Beemer said.

For traditionalists, the menu also includes tried-and-true drinks like old fashioned and mojitos.

The bar also keeps a variety of beers on tap, always rotating. It also offers a menu of small-plate food, an aspect the bar plans to focus more on in the future.

Music Too

Tatanka still has some Western flair though, hosting local and regional country artists most days of the week in the summer. Cody draws many of these artists during the summer months, making their way to locales like Bozeman and Missoula, Montana, and Jackson.

Vander Werff said the goal is to draw bigger artists to Cody who may have not stopped there before. The music piece, to Vander Werff, is crucial, as he believes it creates a different environment that separates Tatanka from the typical bar or restaurant.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever make money off music, but I think it’s a cool thing to offer,” Vander Werff said. “We kind of fill this little loop in their tour.”

The Cody business market can be challenging because of the rush business that comes during the summer and fall months. This requires proper budgeting and forecasts to avoid going under during off-peak times, on top of all the other day-to-day struggles that come with running a new business.

Vander Werff believes Tatanka has moved past the difficult early stage of trial and error. It now offers brunch on Sundays and are open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“We survived the first year, but you can’t let your guard down ever in this world,” he said.

Contact Leo Wolfson at leo@cowboystatedaily.com

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.