10 Questions With: Alex Nicholson-Evans, founder of Bristol Cocktail Weekend.
Soon you will find me, £7 cocktail(s) in hand, gleefully sipping my way across Bristol, all thanks to Alex, founder of Bristol Cocktail Weekend: an annual festival that celebrates Bristol’s best bars.
Organised by food and drink events specialists Living For The Weekend and supported by Bristol Business Improvement District (BID), Bristol Cocktail Weekend takes place from Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th September - this weekend. Your ticket gives you exclusive access to £7 signature cocktails, £6 mocktails, food offers and events across 30+ participating bars and restaurants.
In anticipation of the weekend, we spoke to Alex so you can find out more about the weekend and the brilliant woman behind Bristol Cocktail Weekend.
1. When and why did you first start Bristol Cocktail Weekend? And why in Bristol?
I started the festival back in 2023, but my love affair with Bristol started when I was at university (a depressingly long time ago now) down the road in Bath.
I only choose to work in cities I genuinely love and want to be part of. It’s not your usual business strategy, but it’s really important to me that I believe in the places I work and feel excited about what I’m doing.
So Bristol was a very easy decision. The more time I spent here, the more I fell in love with the food and drink scene. It’s such a special city with an incredible hospitality offer.
2. How do you select the venues that take part?
It’s an art, not a science and there are a lot of considerations. I’m looking for bars that make great cocktails and are passionate about what they do. Great service and a memorable experience are important too.
It’s also about getting the right mix across the festival. We want different styles of venues, good routes around the city and a few hidden gems for people to discover.
3. How do you think Bristol Cocktail Weekend helps support Bristol’s bar scene and nightlife?
Every year, the bars involved tell us they see new customers coming through their doors thanks to Cocktail Weekend. It also gives the venues a chance to come together and celebrate Bristol’s brilliant bar scene.
The festival itself is always busy, but what’s really rewarding is hearing that people go back to the venues they discovered long after the weekend is over.
Personally, I love the idea that Cocktail Weekend might introduce someone to their new favourite bar or drink.
4. Each year, one signature cocktail is crowned Bristol Cocktail Weekend Cocktail of the Year. Can you tell us about some past victors?
We’ve had some incredible winners over the last few years. Last year, The Juke Box won with The Big Iron, a cracking drink made with Buffalo Trace Bourbon, a Pabst Blue Ribbon reduction, mixed berries and homemade cream soda.
Before that, the crown sat with Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Their winning cocktail combined Disaronno Velvet with coconut rum, Assam tea, pineapple and cacao pulp. The garnish was pretty memorable too: a bespoke caramelised white chocolate and custard cream crumb biscuit, filled with coconut and passionfruit ganache and crafted by local chocolatiers Ruby Hue.
Back in 2023, our very first winner was Flight Club with Nunya Beeswax, a blend of Herradura Reposado Tequila, Beesou Honey Aperitif, peach purée and lemon. Flight Club went on to list the winning drink on their menus across the UK, which was pretty special to see.
5. How are the cocktails judged? Can we help decide?
Yes you can! Every wristband wearer gets a scorecard so they can rate the signature cocktails they try throughout the festival. Scoring is totally optional though, so if that’s not your vibe, worry not!
At the end of the festival, those scores are combined with the votes from our expert industry judges to crown the Cocktail of the Year.
6. Okay, I have a few festival go-ers in need of some inspiration.
I’ll describe them, you tell me where they’re going:
A romantic evening, a few cocktails, dinner, and some entertainment
I’m thinking dinner and your first signature cocktail at Colonnade, a real hidden gem that deserves to be unearthed. You can pair your drink with their £3 canapés too. In fact, there are loads of food offers and special events to discover across the weekend, from discounted dining and £3 pizza slices to cocktail masterclasses, live music and even dedicated rum or whisky and chocolate pairing events.
From there, head to Golden Crane for another cocktail before making your way up to St George’s. Grab a drink from their bar and another from The Ivy pop-up, then settle in for some late-night jazz.
Someone who likes a bright, refreshing cocktail, perhaps with citrus or floral notes.
I’m sending you to The Lost & Found for ‘The Lost Garden’. Think apple, elderflower, lime and strawberry. Fresh, floral and deliciously crisp.
Next up, Browns Brasserie for ‘An Italian Job’, with pineapple and orange bringing the citrus notes.
Then for something a little different, try the ‘Bristol Vagabond’ at Last Chance Saloon. It’s giving bergamot, wild chamomile and jasmine. Delicious.
A group of girls, ready for more than a few cocktails and prepared to last the day and night.
We’ll do things right and start at The Hub with a cheeky complimentary sample or two from Spirit of Bristol. Then it’s off to Hotel du Vin for their signature cocktail and some boozy candyfloss.
From there, we’re heading down to the Harbourside. Rick’s Bar is first, making the most of their three small plates for £25 deal, followed by The Architect and Ritorno Lounge. We’ll finish at Spirited, New Orleans-style, with a bowl of gumbo, live music and a truly delicious £7 cocktail.
7. You are the founder and director of Living for The Weekend, the company behind Bristol Cocktail Weekend. Can you tell us about the other festivals in your roster?
The OG festival was Birmingham Cocktail Weekend. Next came Birmingham Restaurant Festival, followed by Bristol Cocktail Weekend.
I do often wonder whether we should complete the family with Bristol Restaurant Festival. What do you reckon?
8. Living for The Weekend boasts food and drinks festivals, what interests you about hospitality and showcasing food and drink?
The places we eat and drink are so important in our lives. They’re where first dates turn into wild romances, where we talk through problems with our closest friends and where we console and congratulate each other. It all goes down in hospitality! Plus, food and drink are such powerful ways to experience a city.
I really do love giving people a reason to try somewhere new or different. If our festivals can help someone discover a new favourite drink, dish or place, while bringing more customers through the doors of great local businesses, that feels like a pretty good mission to me.
9. You are Birmingham’s City Curator: you plan city-wide cultural events, like festivals, to enrich people’s social experience of the city. I think most people will agree that sounds like an incredible job. Why is it important for cities to have their own city curator?
It is an incredible job and a real privilege. In other cities you might find Creative Directors too, but I think in many ways the work is the same.
We’re all thinking about how people experience a place. It’s about giving residents new reasons to feel proud of where they live, while inspiring visitors to come, explore and return.
Culture has an enormous role to play in how a city feels. I think it’s important to have someone whose job is to champion that and harness its power for the good of the city as a whole.
10. How would you like to influence Bristol’s food and drink scene in the future?
I’d like Bristol Cocktail Weekend to keep growing in a way that genuinely benefits the city’s hospitality industry and adds to the experience of being in Bristol.
I want to keep introducing new customers to great venues, championing the talented people behind the bars and celebrating what makes Bristol’s scene so special. I also want to encourage people to be adventurous, explore parts of the city they don’t usually visit and find places they’ll return to throughout the year.
Bristol has some genuinely world-class bars and I hope we can help shine a spotlight on them nationally and beyond. Ultimately, I just want to help special places, like this city, thrive.
Interviewed by food editor of the Everyday Magazine, Amelia Ling
