How do you get into Denson?
We have not confirmed it. Denson is in the directory because it calls itself a speakeasy, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
The drinks at Denson
The current drinks list is published on the venue’s own site — see the menu.
Beyond what the venue publishes we have not verified a list, so what follows is the period rather than the bar: Blood and Sand, Bobby Burns, and Rob Roy are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
Where Denson sits
Denson is in Washington, District of Columbia, in District of Columbia, in the Mid-Atlantic of the United States. The city sits inside the DC, Maryland and Virginia metropolitan area.
Our directory currently lists thirteen speakeasies and hidden bars in Washington. The full list is on our guide to hidden bars in Washington.
Measured from the map pins, the closest of those to Denson are Shelly’s Back Room, about 950 m away, Sidecar, about 1.6 km away, and Dirty Bar, about 2.1 km away.
District of Columbia holds thirteen listed venues in this directory. See them all on our District of Columbia speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in District of Columbia
District of Columbia came under national prohibition on 17 January 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment took effect and the Volstead Act defined an intoxicating beverage as anything above one half of one per cent alcohol — a threshold strict enough to close breweries that had expected to survive.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in District of Columbia.
What the newspapers recorded in Washington
Searching the Library of Congress run of District of Columbia newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from Washington:
- The Washington daily news, June 24, 1930 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Washington daily news, March 14, 1929 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Washington daily news, December 26, 1931 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Washington daily news, January 14, 1931 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
Hours published by the venue:
- Tuesday to Thursday, 4.30pm to 1am
- Friday to Saturday, 4.30pm to 2am
- Sunday and Monday, closed
Hours as published on the venue’s own site, retrieved 9 October 2026.
You can reach Denson through its own website and on Instagram, Facebook, and X.
What we have confirmed
For Denson we hold official website, social accounts, opening hours, a published drinks list, and an online booking link. We do not yet hold street address, telephone number, or a listed-building record.
It is in the directory because the description in the source data describes it as a speakeasy.
OpenStreetMap carries this venue, contributed by a mapper; Overture Maps has no matching record.
The source data classifies the premises as a bar.