Non-Alcoholic Cocktail Bars in Des Moines, IA
Craft cocktail bars and lounges in Des Moines that take their non-alcoholic program seriously. 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.
4 cocktail-style venues listed
Craft cocktail bars with NA programs
- ★★★★★?
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
- ★★★★★?
Secret Admirer is a downtown Des Moines cocktail bar on SW 5th Street that keeps rotating seasonal spirit-free and low-ABV options rather than a fixed pair of mocktails — a Santa Spritz of raspberry, cinnamon, apple cider and Topo Chico appeared on the winter list. Carrying both spirit-free and low-ABV matters, because they serve different people: someone who has stopped entirely and someone who is cutting down need different things, and most bars quietly assume they are the same customer. Open 4pm most days, from 10am on Saturday, and closing at 1am on Friday.
Other bars in Des Moines with serious NA programs
These aren't classified as cocktail bars, but their NA programs are extensive enough to be worth a stop.
What separates a good NA cocktail bar from the rest?
A great non-alcoholic cocktail bar isn't defined by whether it stocks Seedlip on the shelf. It's defined by whether the bartenders treat alcohol-free drinks as cocktails — built with the same logic, the same balance, the same care for mouthfeel and presentation as the alcoholic side of the menu.
The signal: a printed NA section on the menu with named drinks, an NA-spirits row on the back bar (Lyre's, Seedlip, Wilderton, Ritual, sometimes Monday Zero Alcohol Gin or Wilderton Lustre), house-made shrubs and bitters available for NA builds, and staff who can talk through what's in a drink without defaulting to "we can do something with juice."
The opposite: a generic "mocktail" line item priced at $8 with no description, or worse, a Shirley Temple by default. We rank cocktail-style venues here by NA Program Strength and lead with the venues that have published named NA drinks on their menu.
Frequently asked about NA cocktail bars in Des Moines
4 cocktail-style bars in Des Moines run non-alcoholic programs we've verified. Top picks include Hello, Marjorie, In Confidence, The Bartender's Handshake.
New venues in your area
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