In Confidence

The Hotel Fort Des Moines is a restored 1919 property downtown, and In Confidence is the speakeasy beneath it — a small, dark room behind an unmarked entrance, open only Thursday through Saturday.

Its alcohol-free approach is the one this directory finds most consistently underrated: straight substitution into classics using real products, rather than inventing something new. The Zero Proof Mint Julep is Lyre's bourbon alternative with simple syrup and mint. The gin and tonic is Lyre's London dry with Fever Tree tonic. Neither is clever. Both are correct.

The julep is the one that proves the bar is serious. A mint julep is essentially bourbon, sugar, mint and crushed ice — there is no juice, no soda, nothing to carry flavour except the spirit itself. It is one of the hardest drinks in the canon to make without alcohol, and it is completely impossible to fake. A bar putting one on the menu has bought a bottle of Lyre's bourbon and decided it works.

That matters for a specific reason. A large share of people who stop drinking do not want an invented alcohol-free cocktail with dragon fruit in it; they want the drink they always ordered, in the glass it always came in, without the alcohol. Being able to order a julep in a speakeasy and have it arrive looking exactly like everyone else's is a different experience from being handed something new and fruit-forward.

Des Moines' tourism board documented both drinks in January 2026.

The hours are the constraint and they are tight: 5pm to 1am Thursday, Friday and Saturday only, closed Sunday through Wednesday. This is a weekend room. Booking is sensible, as the space is small.