07/26/2026
On Thursday in New Orleans, our menu Banned in DC was named World’s Best Cocktail Menu at the Spirited Awards. For a menu built around banned books, Ruby Bridges, and the strange little worlds we create when the real one becomes too heavy, this honor means more than we can express.
Banned in DC was never just a list of drinks. It was a story about how imagination can become a form of resistance. It was built by a team of brilliant bartenders and artists who left a piece of themselves on every page.
Thursday also marked Deke’s final night with Allegory after eight beautiful years. There is something almost impossible about sharing that goodbye on the same night we won this prestigious award. Bittersweet, surreal, and very Allegory.
To Tales of the Cocktail, thank you. To our bar team, Katie Miller, and Dian Holton, this belongs to you. To Ruby Bridges, thank you for reminding us that a child walking through a door can still shake the world.
And to everyone who has sat with this menu, read the story, and ordered a drink, thank you. We will carry this one for a long time.
