The Ultimate Guide To Edinburgh Cocktail Week
Edinburgh Cocktail Week is not only Scotland’s biggest cocktail festival, but also the UK’s as well. With this year’s addition set to kick off in the coming days, it’s only right for us to focus a blog on the fantastic celebration of Edinburgh’s cocktail culture.
We’ll be discussing a bit about the history of the city-wide event, how you can get involved as well as how you can get tickets within our ultimate guide to Edinburgh Cocktail Week 2022.
After all, we bet students living in accommodation in Edinburgh love a tipple as much as us!
About Edinburgh Cocktail Week
Edinburgh Cocktail Week for those who’ve never heard of this fantastic event has been taking place since 2017 in the Scottish Capital.
It’s a celebration of the city’s hospitality scene with tons of bars getting involved and of course, providing us all with some brilliant cocktails!
Last year’s addition sold out and this year is expected to be bigger and better than ever with the largest number of bars taking part, headline artists, DJs and street food vendors set to take place.
Gary Anderson, Managing Director of Edinburgh Cocktail Week has stated: “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.
Why not get involved to celebrate and support Edinburgh’s cocktail culture if you’re studying in the city?
Find out when this amazing event is taking place and what’s on the programme for this year’s festival below.
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When Is Edinburgh Cocktail Week 2022?
This year marks the fifth year of the festival, which is taking place from the 7th until the 16th of October 2022.
So, you’ll have 10 days of fun to get involved in (when you’re not in uni that is).
Just because it’s not summer anymore doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some fezzys!
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What’s On Across The City
The programme will include 120 of Edinburgh’s finest cocktail bars spread throughout the city centre including The Alchemist, Bonnie & Wild, The Dome, Tigerlily, Harvey Nichols, Copper Blossom, and Skybar.
We’d be here all day naming all of the bars, but you can find out all the places participating in the festival on the official website here.
At the numerous bars within the ECW line-up, you can enjoy a £5 signature cocktail when showing your wristband so, you get discounted bevvies at tons of places. We’re sure you’ll find a cocktail to suit your taste-buds!
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Cocktail Village In Festival Square
Included within the event programme is the main Cocktail Village in Festival Square which is free entry when you buy a wristband for ECW – don’t mind if we do!
Inside there will be 21 pop up bars serving £5 cocktails including Grey Goose, Jack Daniel’s, Dead Man’s Fingers and Kopparberg to name a couple.
As well as delicious cocktails you can also sit and enjoy some live music with a variety of different artists taking to the stage across the ten days including TikTok sensation Nathan Evans, Callum Beattie, ABBA Gold Tribute Band and Outset DJ Collective.
Set times and performances do vary by time and date, so it’s worth checking this out when you purchase a specific wristband.
Although, there’s live music on every day from 2pm so we’re sure there will be something good to sing along to with your pals!
If you get hungry then you can indulge in some delicious local street food with the likes of Bross Bagels, The Pizza Geeks and Moskito Spanish Bites setting up inside the Cocktail Village.
There really are tons of activities taking place across the festival board from ball pit events to immersive experiences to comedy nights to mixologist experiences.
Although, not all of these are included within your wristband and do cost extra.
Not only can you soak up some tasty drinks, but you can also be surrounded by a banging atmosphere – you’d be silly to miss this!
If you’re looking for something to do with your uni mates and want to head to Edinburgh Cocktail Week, carry on reading to find out more about how to get involved and where to buy tickets.
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How To Get Involved
There are a variety of different wristbands available for Edinburgh Cocktail Week, depending on what day or days you want to attend the festival.
Prices start from as little as £8.50 per person so you don’t have to spend too much of your precious student loan to have a good time at the celebrations.
The four wristband options are Weekend One, Weekday, Weekend Two and Ten Days.
A ticket for the whole festival is just £16 which we think is an absolute bargain!
When purchasing a wristband, they are valid at the Cocktail Village for the specific day you’ve bought, but you’re able to use them for the full 10 days at all the bars around the city participating in the festival.
Another great aspect about having a wristband for ECW is you can make the most of some freebies too.
When you dine at either El Cartel, Superico, Luckenbooths or Dine and Heron you can enjoy a complimentary cocktail by showing your ticket – how good is that?
To find out more about ticket prices and to get your wristband secured, head over to the Edinburgh cocktail week’s website here.
We recommend only buying tickets for this event on the official website to ensure that you can experience your cocktail adventure!
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That’s the end of our post on Edinburgh Cocktail Week. We hope you have an amazing time if you take part in the celebrations which are kicking off in a few days – woop!
Don’t forget to tag us in any pictures you get, we love to see you guys having a ball @_homesforstudents.
If you’re looking to experience the nightlife in the Scottish Capital, check out our guide on the 10 Best Nightclubs In Edinburgh.