The World Class Cocktail Festival is showcasing Barcelona's best cocktail serves

This cool cocktail bar serves up drinks alongside charcuterie that has been smoked in-house. For the festival, their offering is called the El Quiche – and it’s a cocktail inspired by elements of both Spanish and Mayan culture. Featuring Zacapa 23, parmiggiano cheese, coconut and fried plantain, it’s an unusual mix with an interesting backstory. Bartender and cocktail creator Borja Goikoetxea says that upon ‘investigating links between Italy and the city of Zacapa, I discovered that in Zacapa they make a type of dry cheese (with which they make a cheesecake).’ And that ‘ it may sound weird, wanting to make a food pairing with those products, but they complement each other very well’. 

First opened in 1910, this bar is one of Barcelona’s oldest. Styled somewhat like a London boozer but also including original, modernist, decor, there’s more than meets the eye in this spot. Head there during the WCCF, you’ll get to try The Voice – a cocktail made by bartender Magda Viegas. Featuring Johnnie Walker Gold label, as well as chocolate, it’s a soft and sweet drink that, according to Viegas, should be served in a ‘clay base made to measure, with the shapes of the female body’.

Championing locally-sourced ingredients, this classically-decorated spot opened back in the Autumn of 2018. For the World Class Cockail Festival, they’re offering up the Toucha – a imaginative creation of bartender Dean Shury. A blend of manzanilla sherry, citric acid, seaweed soda and Johnnie Walker Gold label washed with smoked butter, this complex drink has notes of fruit, smoke and earthiness. 

That’s right, there are more than just the bars above taking part in the World Class Cocktail Festival. So if you’re in Brcelona between July 8 and July 14, you can also drop into Dr.Lagarto, Coco Vintage Market or Vivo Tapas.

For more information, visit the World Class Club website