SYDNEY COCKTAIL FESTIVAL AT OPERA BAR
13 BARS. 26 COCKTAILS. 1 WEEKEND.
Sydney Cocktail Festival returns to the iconic Opera Bar this month, celebrating our city’s great small bars, the incredible cocktails they create, and the talented people who make them. Bartenders from 13 of Sydney’s most innovative cocktail bars - including Re, Maybe Sammy, PS40, and Double Deuce Lounge - are set to shake and stir 26 different cocktails recipes over two days, Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 March.
Each day of the festival features seven different bars and their star bartenders serving up a signature drink as well as an exclusive creation available just for the Sydney Cocktail Festival, held in collaboration with Bacardi-Martini Australia. Think fluoro 80s thoughts with PS40’s ‘Miami Vice’ - part watermelon cooler, part pina colada. Take a trip back to childhood with Rosenbaum & Fuller’s ‘Zappo’ (Bombay Sapphire, blackcurrant liqueur, grape soda, verjus, and lemon). Re’s exclusive festival creation is ‘Mjango Unchained’ with Bacardi white rum, mango, myrtle and sumac syrup, and lime. While Maybe Sammy’s ‘Bang Bang’ takes you on a citrusy Italian summer vacation.
Evan Stroeve of Re says: “After the tumultuous two years we’ve just been through, togetherness, community and celebration are more important than ever. Sydney Cocktail Festival is a celebration of our amazing industry, cocktail culture and our city. The city is beginning to wake up and this event is a reminder of how talented our bars and bartenders are as well as the perfect opportunity to drink some of the best cocktails in the country, in the most iconic setting in Australia.”
Cocktails aren’t the only thing mixing over the weekend, with a series of DJs and live performances throughout the weekend. Bacardi-Martini also hosts cocktail tasting experiences alongside a sneak peek masterclass of recently launched products in a dedicated space within Opera Bar – with a few surprises thrown in for good measure. Cocktails in ice-cream form? Yes please!
Opera Bar’s venue manager, Steve Davis, explains: “Being able to have this calibre of bartending all in the one place for anyone to enjoy is truly unique. We cannot wait to give our city’s incredibly creative and talented small bars and cocktail masters a harbourfront stage for the weekend once again. The first Sydney Cocktail Festival in 2020 sold out and the vibe down here over that weekend was electric. Covid restrictions meant we sadly had to skip 2021 but we’re back for 2022 and cannot wait to get this party started.”
Sydney Cocktail Festival at Opera Bar schedule:
Saturday 26 March
• PS40
• Lobo
• Banco
• Burrow Bar
• The Roosevelt
• Old Mate's Place
• About Time
Sunday 27 March
• Bar RE
• Maybe Sammy
• Door Knock
• Double Deuce
• Rosenbaum & Fuller
• Hickson House
• The Roosevelt
Bartenders will use iconic spirit brands Bombay Sapphire, Grey Goose Vodka, Patron Tequila and Bacardi Rum to create their cocktails for the weekend.
Sydney Cocktail Festival at Opera Bar
Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 March
12pm – 7pm
$49 per person (+booking fee $2.50), includes 3 cocktails
operabar.com.au/cocktail-festival