From secret speakeasies to the city’s best happy hours, it’s known that Vancouverites love a well-crafted cocktail and, lucky for us, they’ll just keep comin’ during the fifth annual Vancouver Cocktail Week in March.
The week-long event (ahem, eight days to be exact), put on by The Alchemist magazine, will run from March 1 to 8, 2026, serving up daily cocktail seminars, classes, Cinq a Sept happy hours, tasting events, cocktail-paired dinners and guest shifts from visiting bartenders and mixologists at some of our city’s best bars and venues.
Most of the schedule will roll out between December 1 and January, with only a few events announced earlier today at the Vancouver Cocktail Week preview party: the returning Gala of Cocktails will take place on March 7 at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar’s cocktail-paired brunch takes place on the first day of the festival on March 1 and the Neighbourhood Cocktail Crawl series will meander its way through the city all week long.
“We are proud to support and promote Vancouver’s incredible cocktail community and culture. The success of Vancouver Cocktail Week is made possible through the collaboration of everyone in the industry including bartenders, venues, brands, consumers and the supporting media,” said Gail Nugent, publisher of The Alchemist magazine and event producer for VCW, in a release.
At the media preview party, a bevy of cocktails by partners who will be featured at the event were on offer, including Resurrection’s Apple Pie (pictured above), made with vodka, green apple, ginger, cointreau, lime juice and cinnamon simple syrup; the Starburned and Unkissed by Don Julio tequila, with orgeat, lime juice, rose water and a dried grapefruit wheel; and non-alc options by Undone, non-alcoholic spirits.
So who are the guest bartenders and mixologists, and what are the other activations happening over the fifth annual Vancouver Cocktail Week?
Keep your finger on the refresh button come December 1, when tickets for the events go on sale (along with a roll out of event announcements from then until early January).
