Singapore Cocktail Crossover (SGCX) Unveils International Line-Up of Award-Winning Bars and Creative Collaborations Across a Citywide Festival Programme this June, Alongside SGCX Bar Awards

May 15
6 min read

Following its inaugural announcement, Singapore Cocktail Crossover (SGCX), Singapore’s first Cocktails x Lifestyle festival, has unveiled the full programme for its 2026 edition, taking place from 9–14 June. Spanning 14 signature events across the city’s heritage neighbourhoods and a two-day festival weekend at METT Singapore, the programme brings together more than 15 international award-winning bars from eight countries, including Bar Leone (#1 World’s 50 Best Bars 2025), Paradiso (#4), Zest (#16) and Sip and Guzzle (#39), alongside chefs, artists, musicians and lifestyle collaborators. Supported by the Singapore Tourism Board, SGCX enters a space long underserved in Singapore’s event landscape, connecting the city’s globally recognised cocktail culture with the wider worlds of food, music, art and design, and positioning cocktails within a broader cultural context shaped by creativity, community and exchange. The festival will also see the debut of SGCX Bar Awards, a community-led initiative bringing together industry peers to celebrate Singapore’s cocktail community.

SGCX Citywide Programme | 9–12 June

SGCX Festival Map

Across four consecutive evenings, SGCX unfolds through a citywide programme of 14 signature events anchored in Singapore’s heritage bar neighbourhoods, from Bugis and Tanjong Pagar to Amoy Street and Robertson Quay. Each night pairs international guest bars with local host venues and collaborators from food, music, art and design, creating one-night-only experiences that move beyond the traditional guest shift format and place cocktails in dialogue with other creative disciplines. From menus shaped by scent and sound to reinterpretations of local culinary traditions through a global lens, the programme offers new ways to experience flavour, craft and culture, reflecting the diversity and cross-cultural exchange that defines Singapore’s bar scene today.

Left to Right: ZEST, Dry Wave, Paradiso

Highlights include:

Guest Bar: Paradiso (Barcelona, #4 World’s 50 Best Bars 2025)
Host Venue: LAVO Italian Restaurant And Rooftop Bar, Marina Bay Sands Singapore
Collaborator: MS Bar Trends, Barcelona
In partnership with Headline Sponsor The Orientalist Spirits, selected venues and bartenders will be outfitted in bespoke aprons by MS Bar Trends — the Barcelona-based atelier founded by Margarita Sáder of world-renowned Paradiso, Barcelona. Each piece will be individually designed to reflect the identity of the bar, the personality of the bartender, and the concept they represent — and a special range of aprons will be worn in working action as well as showcased at the festival, positioned as a live expression of how style and identity are inseparable from the craft of great hospitality.
Guest Bar: Soka (Bengaluru, #28 Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025)
Host Venue: Stay Gold Flamingo
Collaborator: Rahasya
A perfumery-led collaboration where scent becomes the starting point for flavour. Drawing from the language of fragrance, the menu translates aroma into taste through layered, multi-sensory cocktails designed to be experienced as much through scent as through palate.
Guest Bar: Maison Mahjong (Paris)
Host Venue: Side Door
Collaborator: Keng Eng Kee
A cross-cultural exchange that reimagines KEK’s Singapore’s famous chilli crab together with a Parisian approach to cocktails and dumplings. KEK Brothers Paul and Wayne Liew combine with Maison Mahjong creators Millie Tang and Harrison Kenney in an evening centred around comfort and heart, blending nostalgia with contemporary technique.
Guest Bar: Zest (Seoul, #16 World’s 50 Best Bars 2025)
Host Venue: Jigger & Pony
Collaborator: Odem
A deep dive into Korean sool, exploring traditional fermented and distilled spirits as a foundation for modern cocktails. Paired with Odem’s culinary storytelling, the experience brings together food, drink and heritage in a distinctly Korean narrative.
Guest Bar: Sip and Guzzle (New York City, #39 World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 & #1 North America’s Best Bars 2026)
Host Venue: Burnt Ends Bar
Sip & Guzzle — the celebrated New York bar of two halves from industry titans Steve Schneider and Shingo Gokan — arrives in Singapore for a one-time-only collaboration with Burnt Ends Singapore's wood-fire institution, where both Bartenders and Head Chefs will join forces to deliver a shared menu packed full of smoke, heat and flavour.
Guest Bar: Smoke & Bitters (Sri Lanka, #14 Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025)
Host Venue: Sago House
Collaborator: Neha Dubey
Titled “Drawn from Nature”, this collaboration brings together cocktails and live art in a shared, evolving narrative. As drinks are served, a live painting unfolds in parallel, reflecting natural elements and completing the experience as both visual artwork and cocktail journey.

Together, these collaborations reflect SGCX’s unique approach to cocktails as a point of intersection between disciplines, where flavour, culture and creativity are experienced as one.

SGCX Festival Weekend | 13–14 June

The weekend sees SGCX converge at METT Singapore, where the momentum built across the city culminates in a two-day festival experience set within Fort Canning. Bringing together more than 30 cocktail stalls, popups and over 50 brands spanning spirits, beers, Korean traditional liquors and non-alcoholic offerings, the festival is complemented by a curated programme of live music and lifestyle activations, creating an immersive environment for cocktail lovers and curious audiences alike to explore, discover and connect.

(Top) Left to Right: KAYE, Rahasya, Candice B(Bottom) Left to Right: Eight Gems, Ron & Rich, The Orientalist Spirits

Highlights include:

The Orientalist Spirits (Headline Event Sponsor with Takeover of Canning Bar and Lounge, METT Singapore)

As Headline Sponsor, The Orientalist Spirits will host multiple high-profile activations featuring globally acclaimed bars Paradiso (Barcelona) and Bar Us (Bangkok). Across the festival weekend, The Orientalist transforms Canning Bar and Lounge at METT Singapore into the festival's most coveted destination. Expect headline guest shifts from some of the industry’'s most exciting bars — including Hong Kong sensation, Mius — and signature serves that have defined The Orientalist's reputation on the global stage. Festival-goers can additionally experience two limited expressions rarely available to the public: the seasonal Ukiyo Sake collaboration and the rare Mizunara Dragon Whisky.
Hendrick’s Gin ‘Another Gin’ Launch

Hendrick’s Gin unveils Another Hendrick's Gin, a delightfully enigmatic new expression making its debut at SGCX 2026. Introduced as part of the festival programme, curious guests are invited to be among the first to discover this latest creation, served through a series of refreshingly whimsical libations and engaging on-site experiences.
A Curated Festival Floor of Drinks, Producers and New Discoveries

With over 30 stalls and more than 50 brands, the festival invites guests to explore a wide spectrum of cocktails, spirits, beers and non-alcoholic offerings in a free-flowing environment that encourages movement and discovery. Featured brands include Buffalo Trace, By. Artisans, Corazón, Campari, Código, Cointreau, Don Julio, Espolòn, Hendricks, Johnnie Walker, Maison Perrier, Michters, Rachelle The Rabbit, The Orientalist, Wild Turkey and Wheatley, spanning both globally recognised labels and emerging producers shaping the region’s drinks landscape.
From Personal Styling to Caviar Tastings and Wellness Therapy

Extending beyond the bar, activations bring together multiple disciplines, from Ron & Rich’s personalised styling experiences paired with bespoke cocktail serves to 8 Gems’ guided caviar tastings and gourmet snacks served up by nötter. SGCX will also partner with The Longevity Suite Asia, offering attendees a glimpse of state-of-the-art personal recovery treatments before kickstarting their festival activities.
Live Music Programming Across Multiple Spaces

Music runs throughout the weekend, from DJ-led high energy sessions on the Terraces to more intimate acoustic performances within the Grand Ballroom. Working in partnership with community music partners like Groovetop and spotlighting local talent, the programme creates a dynamic backdrop that evolves from day to night.
SGCX Padel Tournament in partnership with Padel Locos

SGCX 2026 is expanding beyond the bar with the addition of a community padel tournament, hosted in partnership with Padel Locos. Open to players of all levels, the tournament, held at METT Singapore on 13-14 June, brings together Singapore's growing padel community for a day of competitive play, prizes, and post-match cocktails — a natural extension of SGCX's mission to unite the city's food, drink, and lifestyle scenes.

SGCX Bar Awards

SGCX Bar Awards

Debuting alongside the 2026 festival, the inaugural SGCX Bar Awards marks a new chapter for Singapore's bartending scene. Recognising the bars, brands and individuals shaping the city's evolving cocktail culture, the awards reflect SGCX's ethos of "By the community. For the community.”

Guided by 3 Academy Chairs and more than 65 locally-based voters drawn from industry professionals, media and consumer regulars, the awards are designed to celebrate rather than rank.

Awards Categories include:

SGCX 30 Best Bars
SGCX Bartender of the Year
SGCX Emerging Bartender of the Year
SGCX Bar Team of the Year
SGCX Menu Design of the Year
SGCX Art of Hospitality

Within the SGCX 30 Best Bars, positions 6 to 30 will be revealed in no particular order — each bar celebrated equally, without hierarchy. The Top 5 will then be announced together as a collective, a deliberate choice to honour shared excellence over individual placement.

“The bar industry gives so much — to the people who walk through the door every night, and to each other. The SGCX Bar Awards are our way of saying that it deserves to be celebrated out loud. This isn’t about rankings or who’s on which list, but about getting the whole community in a room, raising a glass, and recognising the talent, the hard work and the heart that makes this scene what it is. We’re all better when we celebrate each other,” shares Co-Founder, Caryn Cheah.

Tickets for Singapore Cocktail Crossover (SGCX) 2026 are now available, with advanced passes priced at S$55+. Ticket holders will enjoy access to both the citywide programme and the festival weekend at METT Singapore, including a complimentary welcome cocktail upon entry sponsored by The Orientalist, as well as exclusive cocktail pricing from S$18 nett at the Festival and S$20++ at all citywide events.

The festival is open to guests aged 18 and above. Valid ID is required for entry.

Get tickets here: https://www.ticketmelon.com/sgcx/2026