What to do, see, and drink at London Cocktail Week

This may be bad timing for those of you trying to go Sober for October, but you’re going to have to delay it a while, as it’s London Cocktail Week next week (5-11th), and there is so much to drink, see, and do.

This is the sixth year of the boozy week, and of course it’s even bigger and better this year. There are now 275 bars taking part, loads of events going on, as well as pop-ups, tastings, and masterclasses.

You’re going to need to get yourself a wristband (key to the cocktails) which is your magical pass to a world of £5 cocktails all over the city. From there, London is your booze-covered oyster (I think I saw that they’re doing those somewhere?).

Keep an eye out for:

All the gin

Photo: DrinkUp.London

There are more than 40 events dedicated to the juniper stuff during the week, so whether you’re interested in learning about the history of gin, going on a distillery tour, drinking and making gin on a boat, embarking on the ‘High and Mighty’ gin journey, or going to an East vs West, battle of the gins cocktails and food pairing competition, you are pretty spoilt for choice.


Pop-ups aplenty

Photo: DrinkUp.London

There are nine pop-ups to work your way around this year, including a Buffalo Trace bourbon empire with masterclasses, comedy and cocktails; The Art of the Old Fashioned, an entire bar dedicated to the best cocktail; a whole cocktail village at Spitalfields; or the House of Angostura, with chilled vibes during the day and the place to party at night.


The 24-hour bar build

Photo: DrinkUp.London

Some of the top bartenders from London and around the world have got big plans to build a brand new bar in just 24 hours. The team from London (yehhh, go team London), which includes Rich Woods (Duck & Waffle/Sushi Samba), Iain Griffiths (Dandelyan), and Nathan Shearer (Callooh Callay), will be going up against teams from New York, Singapore and Paris, and hoping that their cocktails win over the judges. Tickets are £35 and get you five cocktails – one from each team, and an extra one of your favourite (which will be London, naturally).

Perfect your art

Photo: DrinkUp.London

Whether you’ve always want to be a pisco pro, be able to nail the perfect Bloody Mary for the morning after the night before, or drink rum in Ernest - the Hemming-way, learn some new skills at the many masterclasses going on throughout the week.

This is just a taste of the 100+ events going on during the week. So whether you plan to fill your time learning the tricks of the bar trade, or just leaving it to the professionals and drinking £5 cocktails around London all week, it looks like you'll be having a brilliantly-boozy week either way.