This week – 15th to 21st October – is Edinburgh Cocktail Week.
This year’s expanded format sees the city-wide cocktail festival spread across seven days with 83 participating bars, a new Secret Spirits Study on Queen Street, and a huge Cocktail Village at Festival Square packed with 15 pop-ups bars, free masterclasses, live music and DJs.
Over 80 bars across the capital are taking part in next week’s Edinburgh Cocktail Week (30 more than last year) including Harvey Nichols, Tigerlily, Dragonfly, The Voyage of Buck, The Voodoo Rooms and The Grand Café, with each bar designing a unique Signature Cocktail.
This year also sees the introduction of a new Cocktail Village at Festival Square, which is free to enter for customers with a wristband. It is decorated in the style of an Autumn Garden, with live music and DJs to make visitors feel like they are at an outdoor festival, while being in the comfort of an enclosed marquee.
Organiser Gary Anderson said, ‘After 12 months of planning and organising, we’re excited to see Edinburgh Cocktail Week come to life and welcome everyone to our bigger, better event. There is so much to do this year between hoping around bars and discovering new tastes, to attending parties and masterclass, distillery tours and interactive challenges, or just hanging out in the Cocktail Village with your friends – there’s no experience like it in Scotland, so we say make the most of it and see you at the bar!’
Another new addition this year is ‘The Secret Spirits Study’ pop-up on Queen Street – a masterclass hub by day and underground bar by night, hosted by Wemyss Malts and Darnley’s Gin, with experiential masterclasses such as ‘Mixed Drinks Through the Ages’ which explores the past, present and future of cocktails through sampling and hands-on cocktail-making. ‘The Secret to Blending Whisky’ masterclasses take pupils on a laboratory style flavour tasting before crafting a personalised blend to take home. In the evening The Secret Spirits Study will transform into a hidden cocktail bar with a programme of bar takeovers with mixologists from across Scotland showcasing their skills to create £4 cocktails for wristband-holders to enjoy.
