The James Beard nominations brought about a surprise for many this year. For the first time since 2014, Wisconsin did not have a nominee in a chef or restaurant category.

Wisconsin did, however, have a nomination in the category of Best New Bar (among three new beverage-related categories added to the awards docket in 2025). 

Agency, the cocktail lounge inside the Dubbel Dutch Hotel at 817 N. Marshall St., was nominated for its excellence in beverages, its likelihood to make a significant impact in years to come, and its demonstration of consistent excellence in the preparation of drinks, sourcing, service, hospitality, atmosphere, and operations. 

The nomination is a milestone for numerous reasons, not the least of which is that they are the first Wisconsin bar ever to earn a James Beard nomination. 

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James Beard by the numbers

Restaurants and chefs in Wisconsin have consistently made an impression on the James Beard Foundation. But, since the first James Beard Awards were issued in 1991, the state has gone largely unrecognized in the beverage categories.

Here’s how that looks in basic numbers. 

Over the past 35 years, Wisconsin has brought home eight awards for Best Chef Midwest and three awards for America’s Classics as well as 25 nominations in categories including Best Chef Midwest, Best New Restaurant and Outstanding Restaurateur. Even more, the state has seen well over 100 semifinalist nominations in categories related to chefs, restaurants and hospitality.

In that same 35 years, Wisconsin has brought home just seven semifinalist nominations in th beverage category. That includes recognition for Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge in Milwaukee (semifinalist in 2025 for Outstanding Bar; semifinalist for Outstanding Bar Program in 2019 and 2013); Goodkind in Milwaukee (semifinalist for Outstanding Bar Program in 2022); Wild Rice in Bayfield (semifinalist for Outstanding Wine Program in 2012); The Old Fashioned in Madison (semifinalist for Outstanding Bar Program in 2012); and L’Etoile in Madison (semifinalist for Outstanding Wine Program in 2013). 

Despite the overall number of bars in Wisconsin, the state has never earned a James Beard nomination or award in a beverage-related category until 2025.

An utter surprise

Agency’s origins hearken back to the Counter Day Bar concept, which launched at Crossroads Collective in February of 2023. Catering to the increasing demand for zero-proof cocktails, the “nolo” bar offered a selection of innovative no-proof and low-proof cocktails. Following its tenure at the food hall, the concept evolved. 

Agency, a hybrid concept serving equal parts zero and full-proof cocktails, was born in January of 2024 as a pop-up concept at the Discourse coffee shop at 1020 N. Broadway. Led by operating Partner Kat Doughty, a culinarian-turned-bartender with experience at Morel and Shanghai, and Ryan Castelaz, industry veteran and founder of Discourse, the fully hybrid bar got legs. By August of 2024, the concept had moved into its own space at the Dubbel Dutch Hotel at 817 N Marshall.

Just six months later, Doughty and Castelaz were shocked to find that they were nominated among the semi-finalists for the James Beard Award for Best New Bar. But they were even more surprised in April of 2025 to find they’d advanced to the short list of nominees.

“Some of the bars that were nominated alongside us are owned by legends in the industry… like Dave Arnold behind Bar Contra in New York," says Castelaz. "On the other hand, for us, this was our very first bar. So to be able to be cast forward into the nominations round, we were both simultaneously taken aback and really, really joyous about the whole scenario."

Doughty nods in agreement. “Part of what made this so surprising is that we weren’t pushing for this, at least not at this point. We saw it as a possibility, maybe something we could push toward in the future. So, to be nominated in our first year, for a brand new category… we were just beside ourselves.”

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What’s different about Agency?

“I think we’re serving excellent cocktails. We have a great space. And we definitely put an emphasis on service. But are any of these things fundamentally greater than others on this list? I don’t know, " Castelaz admits. "But what really drives us forward is the voice that we have, the ideologies we’re sharing and the amount of newness that we put forward with this concept.” 

As a narrative-driven bar, Agency isn’t bound to create all of its drinks with high-brow ingredients. Instead, they are challenged to introduce cocktails that tell stories, that pull people away from the grind of everyday life.

It's part of what Doughty loves about her job.

"I get to witness the magic of wildly talented and passionate people come together and test the limits of their art form without boundaries," she says. "Each person we work with has their own unique background, story to tell, strengths and opportunities for growth. Encouraging everyone to tap into those stories and turn them into a tangible experience that you can literally hold, taste, and lose yourself in, is truly a joy."

Last month’s menu introduced a memorable character, an astronaut named Astra. The Earth is running low on renewable resources, so Astra blasts off into space to see if he can bring hope back to the world. As luck would have it, he gets hit by a solar flare, sucked through a worm hole and crash lands on planet Baja, a place where the atmosphere is made entirely of Baja Blast. 

If you paused right there, so did I. 
“Baja Blast?” I asked Castelaz.  He smiled.

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A trip to outer space

“The whole menu started with Baja Blast, which we had leftover from an event that we’d participated in," Castelaz told me. "It was a matter of thrift as much as anything. We knew we wanted to do a space-themed menu and the more we got to talking, the more a planet that was essentially MADE OF Baja Blast made sense.

“What makes these menus exciting is that our drinks are designed to tell very specific stories about very specific things. We get to dream with abandon with the goal being that the result offers our guests an experience… an hour or two filled with nostalgia, joy and peace."

And when that's the goal, no one is left behind.

“If you’re between 25-35, you grew up getting Baja Blast at Taco Bell. If you’re in your 40s or 60s, it might not hit you in quite the same way, but when you try it, it might make you smile. Either way, our mission is accomplished. We’ve told that story.

“We use the best ingredients available to us. We’ll make things from scratch if they are better than anything we can buy. But, the things we use… sometimes it’s caviar… and sometimes it’s Baja Blast. In the end, it’s about being relatable to our audience. It’s about creating magic.”

And that magic continues with the current Agency menu, a second chapter in the adventures of Astra in which he meets an alien woman and falls in love. To show her how much he loves her, he travels the world – from Wisconsin to Japan, Antarctica, France, Spain and the Caribbean. He gathers unique ingredients from each place and brings them back to make a cocktail for her.

What may have otherwise been a disjointed menu filled with esoteric drinks and randomly global ingredients is now a cohesive story about the gifts that Astra makes for the alien he loves. And you – as a guest at Agency – have the privilege of traveling the world with Astra.

“Among our goals is to show people that you can still have fun even when you’re creating at a very high level. Milwaukee is special because it embraces both of those sides and really appreciates what we do.”   

Off to the races

Doughty and Castelaz are both in agreement: whether or not Agency brings home the James Beard Award for Best New Bar on June 16, 2025, the nomination has created visibility for the nation's first fully hybrid bar, a paradigm they believe will shape the future of bars.

"We wholeheartedly believe that the future of cocktail bars is a hybrid model," says Doughty. "It allows anyone, whether they are drinking alcohol or not, to experience the simple joy of sitting around a table with friends, laughing and making memories while sipping on something delicious. The non-alcoholic market isn't slowing down, the products are just getting better, and I can't wait to see what this industry looks like in 5 years."

They are also emphatic about sharing the honor with others.

"Moving onto the James Beard finals is a celebration for all of us," says Doughty.  "It reflects the talent of anyone who has ever worked a service with us, anyone we have had the privilege to learn from in our careers, anyone who has enjoyed a cocktail with us, anyone who has celebrated us from afar.  This is a celebration of what Milwaukee has to offer and what this city is capable of."