Belgrade Cocktail Fest returns in June
Bar teams from across Europe will head to Belgrade in Serbia on 6 June for the third edition of Belgrade Cocktail Fest.
Vladimir Simić, bar manager of the city’s Dragoljub restaurant and bar, founded the event in 2024.
This year’s festival will be ‘louder and more ambitious’, featuring more international guests, lectures, and guest shifts across the city.
The main festival programme features lectures by Bologna’s Sentaku Izakaya on contemporary mixology and techniques and Oslo’s Himkok on reinterpretations of Norwegian classics.
The event will also feature some pre-festival guest shifts on Friday 5 June, with Diego Ferrari taking over Belgrade’s Holy Moly. Mattia Capezuoli of Stravinsky Bar will appear at the bar of Square Nine Hotel Belgrade, while Nicolo Rossi of Barrier in Bergamo will take over Backdoor5.
The city’s Radisson Collection Hotel will also offer back-to-back guest shifts throughout the afternoon into the evening, welcoming teams including Devil’s Cut, The Bar in Front of the Bar and Ruby Copenhagen.
The international guests will be joined by Belgrade bar teams, including Isabel Speakeasy, Kissa10 and Kultura Bar.
“One of the most beautiful things about Belgrade Cocktail Fest is that local and international bars stand side by side, meet each other, and actively collaborate,” said Simić. “This year, the schedule of collaborative festival guest shifts has become even richer, and the festival itself much bigger.
“We expanded the team by including enthusiasts from the bar industry, and we believe all of this will contribute to growing interest in cocktail culture and the bar scene in Belgrade and across the Balkans.
“In my opinion, Belgrade still slightly lacks the courage and clearly defined, internationally recognisable style needed to elevate its hospitality scene to the next level. But I believe the local and Balkan community will reveal its full potential over the coming years. To achieve that, continued education across the industry is essential.”
Earlier this month, Copy Taste Festival took place in Zagreb, Croatia.
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