Agency

Opened inside the historic Dubbel Dutch Hotel in late August 2024, Agency bills itself as the nation's first fully hybrid cocktail bar: an entire menu in which every drink is engineered to taste equally complete with or without alcohol. It began as a hybrid pop-up tied to founder Ryan Castelaz's Discourse Coffee before moving into the hotel, and it reflects Castelaz's conviction that a non-alcoholic-only room can feel exclusionary — so rather than making guests choose between a "wet" bar and a "dry" one, Agency lets each person decide round by round. As Castelaz frames the mission, it is about giving people "true agency over their drinking experience."

Guests communicate their preference through a simple, discreet ritual — a two-sided coaster flipped gold-side up for a spirit-free drink or black-side up for a spirited one — so no one has to call attention to themselves. The list leans theatrical and precise: the Interstellar is a crystalline milk punch clarified through house-made raspberry-rose-vanilla milk and served with an illuminated "alien" suspended in ice, while other builds range from an elote-inspired Margarita (buttered corn syrup, crushed corn, chili sal de gusano, cilantro) to the atomized-mezcal Jurassic and an Aviation made with violet syrup from Choward's mints. The room's most popular order is the Dealer's Choice, a card on which guests pick a base spirit or flavor profile and let the bar improvise — again, orderable in either a full-proof or zero-proof version.

The approach has drawn national attention: Agency was named a finalist for Best New Bar at the 2025 James Beard Awards, one of only five nationwide. For non-alcoholic drinkers, the significance is that the spirit-free menu is not an afterthought but the equal half of the program — a fully realized, award-caliber cocktail experience whether or not there is alcohol in the glass. Agency is open Wednesday through Saturday evenings, and reservations, especially for its multi-course thematic tasting experiences, are strongly recommended.