Edinburgh Cocktail Week back for 2022

Scotland’s biggest cocktail festival will return to Edinburgh in October, following a sell-out event in 2021.

Taking place from 7-16 October, more than 120 bars will take part in this year’s 10-day festival, which will feature headline music acts, live DJs, pop-ups and cocktail experiences.

Gary Anderson, managing director of Edinburgh Cocktail Week, said: “We’re thrilled to be returning for our fifth year this Autumn. We are always warmly welcomed by the local bar community and it’s great to see new and more bars taking part than ever before.

“It’s important that we continue to develop our festival year on year and continue to offer our visitors a memorable and unique visit at Edinburgh Cocktail Week. With music such a popular element of the Cocktail Village, we’re excited to welcome headline acts to the Music Stage this year that we’re sure will get everyone dancing and singing along.

“We are also introducing other new elements to this year’s festival, with exciting new pop-ups, spaces and experiences in the Cocktail Village, and our most diverse programme of events happening across the city. All will be revealed in due course.”

Wristband holders will be able to take advantage of exclusive £5 signature cocktails at 120 of Edinburgh’s bars, speakeasies and pubs.

For cocktail enthusiasts, the ‘Prestige Cocktails’ category will offer wristband-holders the chance to enjoy an ‘elevated’ cocktail experiences curated by a collection of the city’s leading mixologists and acclaimed venues. These will include: Panda & Sons, Hey Palu, the Harrods Champagne Bar, Eve at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh, Nightcap, Hawksmoor, The Waldorf Astoria, and Superico 99.

With music being an ‘increasingly popular’ feature of Edinburgh Cocktail Week, the organisers have put a focus on live music for this year’s event.

The Cocktail Village at Festival Square, which will host 20 pop-up bars, will welcome a daily line-up of headline acts, including Tik Tok ‘sensation’ Nathan Evans, made famous for his viral sea-shanty video in 2021, who will take to the stage on Friday 7 October.

The Cocktail Village will also host performances from Edinburgh-born Callum Beattie, Swedish rising pop star Lilly Ahlberg, and Tik Tok’s newest Scottish singer Calum Bowie. The headline acts will be supported by local upcoming bands and DJs.

Wristbands are now on sale priced at £8.50 (US$10.38) plus booking fee, and are valid at all 120 participating bars for the full 10-day duration of the festival. Access to the Cocktail Village is limited to specific dates chosen at the time of purchase.

Wristbands allowing access to the Cocktail Village for the duration of the festival are priced at £25 (US$30.52) plus booking fee.

In other cocktail festival news, London Cocktail Week announced it will return for its 12th year this October.