London Cocktail Week 2019 is upon us which sees London transform into a giant festival celebrating all things cocktail, taking place from 4th – 13th October.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of London Cocktail week and to celebrate the festival has been extended to 10 days giving guests an even longer opportunity to raise a glass and enjoy delicious cocktails.
We have been visiting London Cocktail Week since its inception in Covent Garden (we know, we look so young), and love how it has evolved and become a cultural moment in London’s calendar.
Taking place all across the city, guests will be able to access exclusive cocktails and special prices, attend masterclasses as well as visit the cocktail hub which is located at The Truman Brewery, Brick Lane.
The Cocktail Village will feature an array of established and emerging brands, from tequilas, to gins, piscos, whiskies and vodkas alongside immersive popups and experiential activations. Launching on 9 October, guests will be able to enter The Cocktail Village free of charge with a festival pass.
New for this year, The London Cocktail Week Covent Garden PopUp, situated in Ice Tank on Grape Street, will run from 4 October and will be a nod back to the festival’s first foray into pop-up shops. We still remember turning up to the hub in Covent Garden 10 years ago and wondering the streets of Covent Garden with a map finding unique experiences. If you have a Festival pass you will be able to access the pop up for free.
Festival passes are on sale now at DrinkUp.London and for just £10 drinks enthusiasts can toast to the city’s
best spirits, award-winning bars, pop-ups, unlimited £6 cocktails, parties and more.
We’ve put our ears to the streets and asked around on what you need to check out. Below you will find our top places and events you need to get yourself to.
London Essence House
The London Essence Company have teamed up with Diageo and their World Class brands to launch The Essence House.
Located in Covent Garden, essence house is an interactive space that will take guests on a journey of palate preferences and craft a bespoke cocktail, carefully calibrated for each individual’s taste discovery to understand their individual palate profile.
The experience will start with the exploration of London Essence’s distilled botanicals and end with the enjoyment of an exquisite bespoke cocktail from a choice of spirits such as Ketel One Botanical, Tanqueray No. TEN Gin, Johnnie Walker Black Label Whisky, Belsazar Rosé Vermouth, and Seedlip.
A series of interactive taste and aroma tests will help identify each individual’s palate profile, explore how nature and nurture play a part in the flavours that they like and dislike, and help to enhance their drinking experiences through the understanding of their taste preferences, resulting in an array of cocktail combinations uniquely crafted with a World Class spirit offering.
Some of the world’s most skilled bartenders will be on hand to distil drinkers’ profile. Both exquisite alcoholic and non-alcoholic options will be available, perfectly pairing London Essence’s distilled botanicals and purest flavours with luxury spirits brands and topped with garnishes grown on site in hi- tech ‘Evogrow’ plant growing systems.
The Essence House, open from 3rd – 5th October, with some of the world’s most influential bartenders from London to Hong Kong.
Tickets to The Essence House will be available for £10, which provides entry to the event, including a personalised palate profiling experience, and two cocktails. Visit londonessencehouse.com for more details and tickets.
Ketel One Masterclass
Vodka brand Ketel One are bringing their Ketel One Masterclass to London Cocktail Week’s Covent Garden Pop Up.
For those wanting to roll their sleeves up and get involved will learn how to craft the perfect espresso martini with Ketel One GB Brand Ambassador, Kate Jackson.
Learn how to craft the perfect Espresso Martini so you can show off your skills at home as well as learn about Ketel Ones rich history as a family-made vodka.
The First Whisky House at Black Rock
For those with a palette for whisky (like us) here is something you will love. For LCW, some of the biggest whisky brands such as Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, Talisker, Copper Dog, Johnnie Walker and Roe & Co, will come together under one room to bring LCW guests, The Whisky House.
Taking over Black Rock, a five-storey venue dedicated to whisky in East London with recently launched Black Rock Tavern and the newly opened blending room, will be host to an immersive maze of pop-up whisky takeovers, experiences and late-night DJs across the ten days.
Sessions will include Bulleit Old Fashioned Masterclasses, Talisker Wild Spirits Foraged Cocktail Workshops and Johnnie Walker Blending Sessions. The themed events will take place around the 185-year old interactive cocktail ageing tree trunk and also within the newly refurbished first-floor Blending Room and ground-floor Tavern.
On Thursday 10th October, a Roe & Co ‘Dram Tram’ will be stationed outside Black Rock, serving Irish Coffee and Irish Roe & Co Tea throughout the day. Inside the house will also see Copper Dog, fruity Scotch whisky, popping up with their ‘ Acustioke’ , an evening of karaoke and live music, for guests to dance the night away, led by the talented Brand Ambassador and musician, Andy Huntley.
Bacardi Diez
Bacardi will bring the ‘Sound of Rum’ to London with a Caribbean-flavoured ‘Rum Room’.
Bringing an immersive celebration of its 157 years of rummaking heritage along with infectious beats to Dray Walk, opposite the Old Truman Brewery – with guest bar takeovers from the iconic Laki Kane, Trailer Happiness, The Curtain, The Blue Bar at the Berkley Hotel and Edinburgh’s Panda & Sons. Expect a series of tasty events showcasing Bacardi’s premium rums. Bacardi will also be revealing some very exciting news so be sure to get yourself along. We can neither confirm or deny we have heard about the news – you will just have to wait and see.
The Rum Room is located at 4 Dray Walk, London, E1 6QL and is running from 10th – 13th October.