London Cocktail Week 2019: everything you need to know

Now in its tenth year, London Cocktail Week is a city-wide celebration of the best of the capital’s bars and the drinks to be enjoyed within them!

It’s an amazing opportunity to discover new venues and exciting, different cocktails for a fraction of the usual price, and here at Craft Gin Club HQ we’re super-excited to be venturing out throughout the festival to sample all the delights that are in store! (All in the name of research for our jobs, you understand…).

Here’s a quick guide to everything you need to know about London Cocktail Week this year.

When is London Cocktail Week 2019 taking place?

From Friday, 4 October until Sunday, 13 October. Yes, this year, to mark its 10th anniversary, the festival has been extended to last a full ten days. Hurrah!

What is London Cocktail Week?

It’s the biggest cocktail festival of its kind in the world! We think that’s a pretty exciting event to be part of.

There are three areas of activity to get involved in at the festival - find out more about each below:

• The Cocktail Tours - visit 300+ bars around the capital
• The Events Schedule - one-off pop-ups, cocktail-making masterclasses & more
• The Cocktail Village - a lively hub dedicated to all things boozy

The Cocktail Tours - visit 300+ bars around the capital

The Events Schedule - one-off pop-ups, cocktail-making masterclasses & more

The Cocktail Village - a lively hub dedicated to all things boozy

What are the cocktail tours?

Here’s how it works: if you buy yourself a £10 Festival Pass, you can nab yourself a gorgeous signature cocktail for just £6 at any of 300+ bars across London. We can vouch for the value of this pass - many of the cocktails would cost twice or even three times that much for the rest of the year.

So it’s a genuinely exciting chance to sample some of the absolute best cocktails in the world, as created by world-leading bartenders, for the same price as a naff glass of wine at your local pub! Plus, many of these bars are seriously gorgeous.

You can see which bars are involved and the cocktail you can get there for the special price on the official festival website, so you can plan in advance which you want to try (which are serving gin-based cocktails, for example!).

What can you do or see at the Cocktail Village?

There’s also an entire Cocktail Village you can visit, where you can visit more than 30 pop-up bars, grab a tasty bite or two at the street food stalls, and bop away to live DJs.

Tell me about the London Cocktail Week Events Schedule!

Well, there are almost 100 events, including pop-ups, parties and cocktail masterclasses taking place all over the city, so if you can’t get to the Cocktail Village or one of the participating bars on the Cocktail Tour, there will definitely be something on this list to get involved with.

Any event highlights to look out for?

• Try the “Nihon Star”, winner of London Cocktail Week’s Best Cocktail for 2019, at the swanky Shochu Lounge in Fitzrovia
• Go on a personalised journey through flavour, which will treat you to a bespoke cocktail, scientifically matched to your palate by the world’s top bartenders, at a pop-up event at the Essence House
• Take part in your very own version of (boozy) Supermarket Sweep, by running around the aisles of the London Cocktail Club’s very own convenience store, collecting ingredients with which you can then whip up your very own cocktail!
• Blend your own botanicals and create a personalised 350ml bottle of gin at the City of London gin distillery

Try the “Nihon Star”, winner of London Cocktail Week’s Best Cocktail for 2019, at the swanky Shochu Lounge in Fitzrovia

Go on a personalised journey through flavour, which will treat you to a bespoke cocktail, scientifically matched to your palate by the world’s top bartenders, at a pop-up event at the Essence House

Take part in your very own version of (boozy) Supermarket Sweep, by running around the aisles of the London Cocktail Club’s very own convenience store, collecting ingredients with which you can then whip up your very own cocktail!

Blend your own botanicals and create a personalised 350ml bottle of gin at the City of London gin distillery

You sound suspiciously enthusiastic about this event…

This article is completely independent! We’re not being paid to say these things.

Here at Craft Gin Club, our mission is to help gin lovers to elevate their drinking experience, with a focus on quality over quantity, so we are simply really enthusiastic about an event that allows people to experience the best of the booze world!

Ok, I’m in! How to do I get my pass?

For more information, including all the bars, special events and pop-ups taking place in London Cocktail Week 2019, and to get your Festival Pass, head to https://drinkup.london/. We’ll see you there!