A toast to heritage: AAPI Cocktail Week returns to SF
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A bartender at PCH makes a cocktail. Photo by: Erin Ngo
San Francisco's AAPI Cocktail Week returns this year with a series of events showcasing the community's cultural influence on the hospitality industry.
State of play: The five-day celebration runs from May 25-29 and features happy hours, educational panels, tastings and pop-ups featuring local and international guest bartenders from the World's 50 Best Bars list.
- Most events also feature live music and bites from local AAPI-owned restaurants.
Catch up quick: Kevin Diedrich, the owner of Pacific Cocktail Haven, founded the event two years ago in an effort to resurrect cocktail week in the city after more than a decade since the annual tradition had gone dormant.
- Diedrich, who is Filipino, said he wanted to help revive the city's post-pandemic cocktail scene and center it around AAPI Heritage Month as an homage to the community's roots in the city.
What they're saying: "We want it to be a destination-worthy cocktail week," he told Axios. "We want to grow it so it's able to highlight more than just my businesses, because it's about this community and the culture in San Francisco and contributing to making it better."
Top events include:
🎉 Opening Party at Pacific Cocktail Haven with guest bartenders from Jigger and Pony, a Singaporean bar recognized for its inventive take on classic cocktails.
- Sunday from 7-11pm at 550 Sutter St.
🛥️ Sunset Boat Luau invites guests to sip tropical cocktails while partaking in a Hawai'i-inspired boat ride along the bay, with close up views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.
- Monday from 5-10pm. Boat departs at Jack London Square.
👋 Fastest Hands in the West is a speed competition that pits bartenders against each other in a head-to-head race to make the best cocktail under a strict time crunch.
- Wednesday from 3-5pm at 550 Sutter St.
🌿 Pandan Party celebrates the fragrant, tropical plant from Southeast Asia that Diedrich describes as "the vanilla of the East," with a curated cocktail menu crafted by bartenders from across California.
- Tickets include unlimited cocktails and pandan-inspired eats. Wednesday from 9pm-12am at 550 Sutter St.
🥡 Night Market at Splash closes out the week-long event by bringing the Asian night market tradition to Thrive City, showcasing 25 of the Bay Area's best bars and restaurants, including Good Good Culture Club, The Progress, Abacá and Trick Dog.
- Thursday from 6-10pm at 1725 3rd St.
If you go: Check out the full lineup here. Ticket prices and locations for events vary.