Get Shaken and Stirred during Midtown Cocktail Week

Sacramento, get ready to drink and be merry this Wednesday through Sunday during the sixth annual Midtown Cocktail Week.

The celebration kicks off tomorrow from noon to 4 p.m. with a liquor vendor expo at The Citizen Hotel, and later that night, from 6 to 9 p.m., LowBrau will host a cocktail competition, where 40 local bartenders from restaurants and bars like The Golden Bear and Shady Lady will to put their mixology skills to the test. Also, famed San Francisco bartenders Neyah White and Martin Cate will be making drinkable concoctions for guests to sample.

On Thursday, Hook & Ladder will bring a taste of Tokyo to midtown with Japanese whiskey and sake cocktails, accompanied by Japanese tapas, plus a performance by drumming ensemble Sacramento Taiko Dan. And on Friday, you’ll be transported back to the Roaring Twenties with an Old Hollywood-meets-Great Gatsby party at Grange, during which the local pinup dance troupe The Satin Dollz will perform and the bar will debut its custom-made, barrel-aged Bols Genever.

On Saturday, from noon to 2 p.m., The Citizen Hotel will host a Home Bartender 101 class, where Shady Lady’s general manager Carl Wenger will teach you how to whip up classic cocktails like martinis and Manhattans. Saturday night will feature the West End Art Show at Blackbird Kitchen & Bar, which will showcase works by artists from Downtown Plaza’s Exhibit S like Tapagami creator Danny Scheible. Churchkey beer will be pouring at the event and bartenders from both Blackbird and Hock Farm will be getting creative with the cocktails.

Midtown Cocktail Week will conclude on Sunday afternoon (1-4 p.m.) at Red Rabbit with the county fair-themed Best in Show Closing Party, where you can sip bourbon cocktails, play carnival games and dance to music spun by DJ Shaun Slaughter.

All events are 21 years and older. For more information, visit midtowncocktailweek.org.