A final toast to VCW 2022

The bartending team at A Botany of Brunch.

We learned, we tasted, we socialized, we drank deeply of cocktail culture. Heck, we even danced a little.

The first ever Vancouver Cocktail Week presented by The Alchemist has just wrapped up, and plans are already in the works for next year—mark your calendars now for VCW 2023, March 5 to 11!

But first, a quick look back at the week that was.

A Botany of Brunch kicked off Vancouver Cocktail Week 2022. Jana Bizzarri photo

VCW 2022 began on Sunday, March 6, with a boozy brunch at Botanist at and ended four days later with the Fun City Gala, where exhilarated partygoers hit the dance floor at The Roof at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, high above the city’s bright lights.

In between, VCW 2022 featured seminars, dinners, special events and the cinq à sept series of elevated happy hours. Working with our friends at the BC Hospitality Foundation and the Vancouver Food and Beverage Community Relief Fund, we were also thrilled to offer two spirits education scholarships.

Bitter is Better Master Class and Dinner at Giovane Bacaro.

In all, there were some 65 events in a festival that was all about celebrating community—the bartending community, of course, but also the greater community of Vancouver.

You see, Vancouver is unique in the world of drink in that we are home to some of the planet’s most talented, creative, award-winning bartenders, and yet we don’t really have cocktail bars. Most of our bars are part of restaurants and/or hotels, which means food and drink and hospitality are inextricably entwined in VanCity.

That’s why we chose to hold as many events as possible in the venues that already serve great cocktails, rather than designing a trade show or cocktail village. Sociable individuality is what we’re all about here—especially when we have a glass of something delicious in our hand.

A cocktail is designed to mark the transition from your work life to your fun life, and to be enjoyed with friends old and new. Cocktails are inherently social, and isn’t that just what we’ve missed most these last two years?

So raise a glass to the party we all needed right now, and here’s to next year’s Vancouver Cocktail Week, too.

Scroll though the Fun City Gala photos:

Thank you from VCW 2022

Of course, with an event of this size, there are many, many people we need to thank, including our volunteers, everyone who hosted an event, everyone who worked on VCW and everyone who attended the festival.

We’d especially like to thank the sponsors who supported VCW so generously, starting with our platinum sponsors, Don Julio and Johnnie Walker.

Thank you, too, to the following:

Brand sponsors: Ketel One Vodka, Tanqueray No. Ten, Bacardi, Grey Goose, Tequila Patrón, Campari, Aperol, Grand Marnier, Plantation Rum, Cointreau, Mount Gay, Stolichnaya, Jura, Villa One, Bearface, Fever-Tree, Okinawa Gin, Kanomori Craft Gin, Fords Gin, Southern Comfort, Elephant Gin, Hennessy Cognac, Yanghe, Lynx, Lyre’s, Giffard, Bittered Sling.

Event sponsors: Dewar’s, Aberfeldy, Craigellachie, Teeling Whisky, Bombay Sapphire, The Botanist, Maison Ferrand, Select, Bowmore, Courvoisier, Belvedere, Glenmorangie.

City sponsors: Destination Vancouver, Gastown BIS, Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Gotham Steakhouse & Bar, Statera Academy and the BC Hospitality Foundation.

Print sponsor: East Van Graphics.

Thank you. We couldn’t have done it without you. And we hope to see you all back again next year!

—Cheers from your VCW co-founders, The Alchemist publisher and VCW event producer Gail Nugent and editor Joanne Sasvari