Amsterdam Cocktail Week has entered a new phase with Roger Bloem joining the organization as a co-organizer and one-third owner. As of December 2025, Bloem has taken over the shares previously held by Tess Posthumus, who stepped down from her role as co-owner earlier last year. He now joins founders Timo Janse and Albert van Beeck Calkoen in shaping the future direction of the event.
Rather than positioning Amsterdam Cocktail Week as a once-a-year celebration, the team is focused on building a year-round platform that actively supports bars and brands within the city’s hospitality community. Bloem believes the Amsterdam bar scene deserves stronger international visibility and sees long-term storytelling as key to elevating the city’s reputation as a global cocktail destination.
Bloem brings extensive experience from across the food and drinks industry. His career includes work with international brands such as Burger King and Lagardère Travel Retail Group, followed by more than a decade of traveling the world in search of standout hospitality concepts through the food platform CityGuys.nl. Those experiences helped shape his connection to cocktail culture and bar craftsmanship.
In 2019, he founded Roger Bloem Marketing, an agency working closely with restaurants, cocktail bars, and premium drinks brands. The agency has supported high-profile clients and projects, including Michelin-starred restaurant Daalder, the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition in the Netherlands, and major industry initiatives such as Woodford Old Fashioned Week, Negroni Week, and Amsterdam Cocktail Week.
According to Albert van Beeck Calkoen, bringing Bloem into the ownership structure was a natural next step after years of collaboration. With his marketing and PR expertise now embedded within the organization, the team expects to strengthen its long-term impact across the Dutch bar scene.
Founded in 2017, Amsterdam Cocktail Week emerged during a period of rapid growth for cocktail culture in Amsterdam, inspired by similar initiatives in London, Paris, and Singapore. Since then, it has become a key platform for discovering new spirits, engaging with bartenders, and exploring the craft behind modern cocktails.
