Penang Cocktail Week Returns This September With ‘Welcome Home’
There is a particular kind of warmth to a night out in Penang, the sort where a stranger at the next stool quickly starts to feel like an old friend. Penang Cocktail Week builds its fourth edition around that feeling, and the organisers have now released the full programme and ticketing details.
The festival runs from 15 to 20 September 2026, turning George Town into a week of guest shifts, wellness sessions, culinary collaborations and late nights. This year's edition is presented by BYD Beyond Auto, a subsidiary of Sime Motors, as title partner, and leans into the thing that has always set it apart: Penang hospitality.
A theme called 'Welcome Home'
This year's guiding idea is "Welcome Home", a nod to everyone who has become part of the Penang cocktail community. Whether you have been there since the first pour or are visiting the island for the first time, the invitation is the same: come as you are, and be treated like family. The week's experiences are shaped around five pillars, each named in the local tongue.
Kaki Lang: the guest shifts
The people-and-community pillar carries most of the bar takeovers. The Opening Party on 15 September brings Penang bartenders Andrew Yap and Rishi Randhawa of Origin Bar, Singapore, to Lucky Hole, with DJ Yin on the decks. Malaysian Invasion IV on 16 September spotlights newer home-grown bars including Remedy Cocktail Bar, Riff District, Barley and Rye, Poo Loong and Co and Neo Bar.
On 17 September, Persau, Once and Only pays tribute to Malaysian cocktail pioneer Karl Too at Steep Social, with Shawn Chong of Bar Mizukami, Shirmy Chan of Bar Terumi and TJ Antony of Giffard recreating his final project. The same night, the Montreal Cocktail Festival takeover lands at Backdoor Bodega. The regional guest list runs deep across the week: the Across The S.E.A. takeover on 18 September gathers nine bars from Bangkok, Medan, Da Nang, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh and Jakarta, followed by a Taiwan takeover and Shanghai Knights on 19 September.
Makan Angin, Jiak and Kongsi
Beyond the bars, Makan Angin leans into island air, with a Sun Fun Run along the Gurney coast and a Sweat and Sip morning alongside Penang's Sun Fun Fest on 16 September, then Sips On The Beach at Batu Ferringhi on 19 September. The food pillar, Jiak, pairs drinks with plates through a Martell dim sum party, a MasterChef showdown between Therese Lum and Marcus Low on 18 September, and a tasting-table collaboration between Bangkok's 80/20 and Restaurant Au Jardin on 19 September. Kongsi, the share pillar, gathers the trade for seminars and bartender brunches from 17 to 19 September.
Lau Juak: the finale
The celebration pillar closes the week. Chivas Regal brings its Nanyang Underground after-party on 18 September, before the festival's centrepiece: the PCW Cocktail Garden 2026 returns to Hin Bus Depot on Sunday 20 September, running from 10am to 10pm with pop-up cocktail bars, food and fashion vendors and live music. A closing party at Magazine 63 sends the week off.
Powered by BYD
BYD Beyond Auto signs on as title partner off the back of its BYD Mansion Macalister opening in Penang, and its Electrified Mansion Sundown at Macalister Mansion features on the festival calendar. The organisers ask attendees to drink responsibly and to use ride-hailing or designated drivers across the week.
What to know before you go
The full schedule and ticketing for selected events is now live at penangcocktailweek.com, with updates on @penangcocktailweek. If a mid-September trip to George Town has been on your mind, the countdown starts now.
Cover image: Drew Beamer / Unsplash.
