Best Mocktails in Des Moines, IA
Des Moines has no dedicated alcohol-free bar — the nearest is Unimpaired in Iowa City — but its cocktail rooms write zero-proof drinks properly, and several build them on named non-alcoholic spirits rather than juice. Hello, Marjorie runs a rotating spirit-free list including an Amaretto Stone Sour on N/A amaretto and rum and a G&T on Seedlip Spice 94 with house tonic, spiced pear and clarified lime. In Confidence, the speakeasy under Hotel Fort Des Moines, pours Lyre's bourbon into a Zero Proof Mint Julep and Lyre's London dry into a gin and tonic. Revival House carries three — a Cyclone, a Blue Hawaiian on pea flower tea, and a Double Tea Old Fashioned built on double-steeped Earl Grey with demerara, orange and Angostura. Bellhop does tiki without the rum, The Bartender's Handshake makes a Vacation Email of orange spice tea and a Karate Kid of carrot, ginger and ancho chili, and Fresko and Eatery A each keep one on the menu. A warning for anyone using the current guides: the tourism board's own January 2026 mocktail round-up recommends Louie's Wine Dive and 503 Cocktail Lab, and both are permanently closed.
9 verified venues · 8 with named NA cocktails on menu
Named NA cocktails on the menu
These Des Moines venues list specific non-alcoholic cocktails on their published menus.
- ★★★★★?
Revival House is a neon-lit tiki bar in downtown Des Moines and it carries three alcohol-free builds, the deepest single list in the city. The Cyclone runs orange juice, passion purée, lime, demerara and grenadine; the Blue Hawaiian is built on pea flower tea with pineapple, coconut and lime; and the Double Tea Old Fashioned uses double-steeped Earl Grey with demerara, orange and Angostura. That last one is the interesting build — double-steeping tea concentrates its tannin, which is what stands in for the grip of whiskey in an old fashioned. Local coverage notes the booze-free versions come with a smaller bill too.
Signature NA drinks- Cyclone — orange juice, passion purée, lime, demerara, grenadine
- Blue Hawaiian — pea flower tea, pineapple, coconut, lime
- Double Tea Old Fashioned — double-steeped Earl Grey, demerara, orange, Angostura
- ★★★★★?
Hello, Marjorie occupies the former Register & Tribune building on Locust Street in downtown Des Moines, styled as a mid-century living room, and it runs the most serious alcohol-free programme in the city — a rotating spirit-free list built on real non-alcoholic liquor rather than juice. The Amaretto Stone Sour uses N/A amaretto and N/A rum with orange, lemon, cinnamon and orgeat; the G&T is Seedlip Spice 94 against a house tonic with spiced pear, clarified lime and soda water. Clarifying a lime is a technique most bars will not do for a drink with alcohol in it, let alone one without.
Signature NA drinks- Amaretto Stone Sour — N/A amaretto, N/A rum, orange, lemon, cinnamon, orgeat
- G&T — Seedlip Spice 94, house tonic, spiced pear, clarified lime, soda water
- ★★★★★?
In Confidence is the speakeasy inside the Hotel Fort Des Moines, and it stocks the Lyre's range properly — a Zero Proof Mint Julep built on Lyre's bourbon alternative with simple syrup and mint, and a gin and tonic on Lyre's London dry with Fever Tree tonic. Both are straight substitutions into classics, which is exactly what a lot of non-drinkers actually want: not an invented fruit drink, but the thing they used to order, made properly. A julep in particular is almost all spirit, so making a convincing one without alcohol requires the bar to have bought a real product rather than improvised.
Signature NA drinks- Zero Proof Mint Julep — Lyre's bourbon alternative, simple syrup, mint
- Gin & Tonic — Lyre's London dry spirit, Fever Tree tonic
- ★★★★★?
The Bartender's Handshake is a vintage-styled cocktail bar on Ingersoll Avenue, open 2pm to 1am seven days a week and to 2am at weekends — the widest hours of any venue in this city guide. Its two documented alcohol-free builds are unusually savoury: the Vacation Email uses orange spice tea with grapefruit, lime, cinnamon, tonic and coconut, and the Karate Kid runs carrot and ginger syrup against lime, ginger beer, ancho chili and mint. Two sources of heat and a vegetable base is about as far from a sweet mocktail as a bar can get, and it is what makes both drinkable across a long evening.
Signature NA drinks- Vacation Email — orange spice tea, grapefruit, lime, cinnamon, tonic, coconut
- Karate Kid — carrot, ginger syrup, lime, ginger beer, ancho chili, mint
- ★★★★★?
Bellhop is Des Moines' tiki bar in the East Village — classy tiki rather than cheesy tiki, by its own description — with elevated takes on the classics and a robust craft beer list. Its alcohol-free builds are the Beachbreeze, of pineapple, passionfruit, coconut and lime with cherry, and Sandy Beaches, which uses blue coconut water with lime, Don's Mix and cinnamon. Don's Mix is the grapefruit-and-cinnamon syrup at the heart of the original Mai Tai-era tiki canon, and a bar using it in a drink with no rum in it is applying its real technique rather than a shortcut.
Signature NA drinks- Beachbreeze — pineapple, passionfruit, coconut, lime, cherry
- Sandy Beaches — blue coconut water, lime, Don's Mix, cinnamon
- ★★★★★?
Fresko is a Mediterranean restaurant on Ingersoll Avenue with two documented alcohol-free drinks that sit at opposite ends of the register: a Blackberry Mocktail built on a spiced blackberry and rose simple syrup with lime juice and Fever Tree sparkling pink grapefruit, and a Chai Mocktail of chai tea, cola syrup and vanilla ice cream. The second is effectively a spiced float, and it is the rare alcohol-free drink designed to be a dessert rather than an aperitif — a category almost nobody caters for. Open 11am to 9pm through the week, later at weekends, and from 10am on Saturday and Sunday.
Signature NA drinks- Blackberry Mocktail — spiced blackberry and rose simple syrup, lime juice, Fever Tree sparkling pink grapefruit
- Chai Mocktail — chai tea, cola syrup, vanilla ice cream
- ★★★★★?
Coa Cantina is a Mexican restaurant and bar on Merle Hay Road in north-west Des Moines, and it will build its margarita and its paloma spirit-free, with non-alcoholic beers stocked alongside. That combination is more useful than it sounds: the two drinks people most want at a Mexican table are both citrus-and-agave builds where the tequila is one component among several, and having NA beer as well means a non-drinker can choose rather than accept. Open from 3pm Wednesday through Sunday, to midnight midweek and 2am from Thursday, closed Monday and Tuesday.
Signature NA drinks- Spirit-free margarita
- Spirit-free paloma
- ★★★★★?
Eatery A is a Mediterranean wood-fired restaurant on Ingersoll Avenue, well regarded locally and open seven days a week from 11am — 9am at weekends, with a daily happy hour from 2pm to 6pm. Its documented alcohol-free drink is a Virgin Pimm's of pomegranate, mint, cucumber and lemon, which is a genuinely sensible piece of thinking: a Pimm's Cup is already a long, herbaceous, fruit-heavy drink where the spirit is the least assertive component, so removing it costs less than it would almost anywhere else on a cocktail list.
Signature NA drinks- Virgin Pimm's — pomegranate, mint, cucumber, lemon
More NA-friendly venues in Des Moines
These venues have NA programs but haven't published a specific mocktail menu we can quote — call ahead or ask your bartender.
What makes a great mocktail?
A great mocktail isn't just a cocktail with the alcohol removed. The best non-alcoholic drinks are designed from the ground up around the flavor profile, mouthfeel, and ritual of a craft cocktail — without leaning on alcohol as a shortcut.
The signal: named drinks on a published menu, fresh-pressed juices, house-made shrubs or syrups, bitters and tinctures for complexity, and increasingly an NA-spirits section (Lyre's, Seedlip, Ritual, Wilderton, and others) used the same way a cocktail bar uses gin or whiskey. The opposite: an off-menu "we can make something" with no specific drinks, defaulting to soda, juice, or sparkling water.
That distinction is why we rank venues by mocktail menu depth and NA Program Strength rather than treating every "mocktail option" as equal. A bar that lists three named NA cocktails on its printed menu is doing the work; a bar that says "we can probably do something" is not.
Frequently asked about mocktails in Des Moines
8 venues in Des Moines serve named non-alcoholic cocktails on their menu. Top picks include Revival House, Hello, Marjorie, In Confidence.
Looking at the whole Des Moines scene?
See every verified NA-friendly venue we list — including bottle shops, restaurants, and bars without printed mocktail menus.
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