Weekend-long cocktail festival returns to the Valley this spring

Bottoms up, cocktail aficionados! The desert’s best drinks weekend is back. 

Arizona Cocktail Weekend returns for a 14th year on Feb. 27. This long-running spirited showcase launched in 2011 to bring attention to craft cocktailing in the Valley. Today, it’s known for three big events that highlight unique sips and stellar bartenders: the Cocktail Carnival, Top Bars and Last Slinger Standing. The weekend also boasts intimate tastings, pairings and takeovers hosted at bars and restaurants around the Valley, educational seminars and recovery events.

Here’s how you can whet your whistle and rub shoulders with master mixologists this spring.

Cocktail Carnival

Feb. 28
455 N. Third St.
The Cocktail Carnival kicks off the weekend at downtown’s Arizona Center. The event channels the whimsy and entertainment of a carnival and carries that through to the drinks being served. Spirits makers will offer more than 30 specialty cocktail samples from their themed booths at this interactive, immersive, entertaining afternoon event. Early bird general admission tickets are $50; VIP tickets are available for $79. 

Top Bars

March 1
215 E. Grant St.
Are you on the hunt for the best martini or old fashioned anytime you travel somewhere new? If so, Top Bars is your kind of event. More than 40 of the most notable cocktail bars from London, Hong Kong, Japan and beyond will shake and stir cocktail samples at this tasting event hosted at Warehouse215. Past guests have included World’s 50 Best Bars honorees, such as New York’s Double Chicken Please, Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy and Panda & Sons from Edinburgh, Scotland. Early bird general admission tickets are $60; VIP tickets are $99.

Last Slinger Standing

March 2
402 S. 54th Place
A hometown bartending throwdown ices the cocktail weekend. Sixteen of Phoenix’s top slingers will face off in a bracket-style competition. Each round of Last Slinger Standing features a secret ingredient and is judged by a panel of cocktail experts. The winner will take home a trophy and bragging rights. This event is free to attend at Republic National Distributing Co., but tickets have not yet been released.