About PCW

Founded by Backdoor Bodega owner and bartender, Koh Yung Shen, Penang Cocktail Week started as Penang’s inaugural cocktail festival in 2023 with an aim to highlight the growing cocktail bar industry in this Malaysian island state.

Despite being one of the smallest island cities in the region, Penang has a uniquely high number of owner-operated cocktail bars — with almost 90% of the city’s independent cocktail bars fully-owned by the bartenders themselves. This results in interpersonal bar experiences like no other, where the bartending passion of the owner-bartenders is reflected in their cocktails and hospitality.

As Malaysia’s biggest cocktail and bartending festival, Penang Cocktail Week hopes to elevate the bartending quality and hospitality standards of the Penang bar industry, while pushing it into the global spotlight to gain the same recognition and exposure that our culinary counterparts have long enjoyed.