Bar Convent Berlin is preparing to open the ‘doors’ on BCB Global Bar Week in October, complete with virtual tastings, live-streamed content, and local events.

Bar Convent Berlin is one of the leading international trade shows for the bar and beverage industry. Forced to postpone our full-scale October event due to a government Covid ban on large-scale meetings, the team has reinvented it as BCB Berlin ‘Pouring Digital’.

The Berlin event will now form part of a global programme of digital and small-scale side events held under the banner of ‘Global Bar Week’, bringing together four digital shows on one platform – BCB Berlin, BCB Brooklyn, BCB Sao Paulo and sister event Imbibe Live in London.

“Global Bar Week is a celebration of the people who shake up the drinks industry” says BCB Director Petra Lassahn, the driving force behind the global rollout of the BCB brand, who has just celebrated her 15th anniversary with RX Global Germany. “We are aware of our position at the heart of a globally networked bar scene that is possibly facing its greatest challenge ever. So we will be offering an alternative event format in the autumn. If our exhibitors and visitors can’t come to us, then we will go to them – not just in Berlin, but in New York, Sao Paulo and London too. The response from the bar industry has been overwhelming.”

As part of their unique project the BCB team are sending out a limited number of Tasting Boxes to the international community for interactive online group tastings. These can be ordered from the BCB Ticketshop.

Keen to involve as many bars as possible in the digital trade show, they have also invited bars from all over the world to act as BCB Hosts and organise smaller side events during the BCB Bar Week. “Successful applicants will be provided with video-based tasting sessions targeting different topics and spirits, so they can host sessions in their bar and invite guests for a special BCB experience” explains Petra.

Curated by bar professional and award-winning educator Angus Winchester, the education programme will bring together many of the best-known and influential speakers in the global bar community with all live streamed and on-demand content free-to-view for registered participants.

Networking has always formed the backbone of BCB and for Global Bar Week buyers and suppliers will enjoy unparalleled opportunities to connect using the BCB Matchmaking Platform.  Exhibitors across all four shows will be listed in the Global Exhibitor Directory and attendees can use the free matchmaking services to search for suppliers of interest, and meet with them online.

BCB Global Bar Week runs from 12 to 18 October. Due to the different audience time zones, most of the live content will subsequently be available on demand to ensure that participants are not disadvantaged in any way.