A brand new city-wide whisky festival lands in Brighton this June with tastings, bar takeovers, paired dinners and more than 100 drams to try.
Brighton isn’t exactly short of places to get a decent drink, but somehow it’s never had its own whisky festival. But that’s about to change.
This June, Brighton Whisky Weekend is taking over venues across the city for three days of tastings, masterclasses, food pairings, cocktails and whisky-fuelled adventures by the sea. The centrepiece is a big Saturday expo at The Old Market in Hove, where more than 30 producers, independent bottlers and craft brands will be pouring drams from around the world.
And before you ask, this isn’t one of those festivals where you pay to get in and then discover every decent sample costs extra. Your ticket includes all the drams on offer, plus a festival tasting glass to take home.
What caught our eye, though, is that the organisers seem keen to make this feel like a Brighton event rather than just rows of trestle tables and people discussing cask strength. Alongside the main expo there’ll be city-wide events including a paired BBQ and whisky night at Babble, bar takeovers, two weeks of special £12 whisky cocktails, tasting sessions, whisky dinners, and meet-the-maker experiences hosted in some of Brighton’s best independent bars and restaurants, like Cut Your Wolf Loose, The Black Dove and Stem, for starters.
It’s got serious pedigree too: the festival has been created by a trio who know their whisky. Richard Foster is behind festivals including Croydon Whisky Festival and English Whisky Festival, while Seb Woolf will already be familiar to local whisky fans as the founder of indie whisky bar Cut Your Wolf Loose (credited with making us realise we do, in fact, like whisky). They’re joined by drinks industry expert Rosie Lees, who grew up in Brighton and wanted to create something that felt rooted in the city rather than a standard convention-centre booze fest.
Whether you’re the sort of person who’s well versed on everything from their Islay to their Speyside or you just fancy exploring some new drinks/getting a handle on the difference between whisky and whiskey, we reckon it’s an excellent reason to head out.
Fri 26th – Sun 28th June 2026; various venues; exhibition tickets from £30
brightonwhiskyweekend.co.uk
