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A variety of wines are offered at the Albrecht-Kemper wine tasting.

If you’re looking for a good cocktail hour, you could always try your favorite drinking establishment. But what if you wanted something more sophisticated? What if you wanted to get a little culture with your cocktails? If that’s the case, you have a few options.

For three years the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art has been hosting its Third Thursday Tastings on the Terrace. The next wine tasting will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 16. The cost is $10 per person.

Christina Lund, director of sales and marketing at the museum, says the wine tastings were designed to get people to visit the museum.

“We wanted an innovative new way to get folks in the museum,” she says, “give them an environment in which they felt comfortable with the learning process of tasting the various wines and also give them a chance to see the collection of American art we have.”

For some, like Tammy Rivera, it’s the only time they have a chance to make it to see the museum.

“It’s a good event to go to even if you don’t like wine, just to see the museum,” Ms. Rivera says. “If they’re like me, they wouldn’t get to see it. (The wine tasting) just gives you a reason to get out and go.”

The wine tastings have been so successful, Ms. Lund says, that the museum now occasionally offers dinner and drink pairings. On Oct. 20, the museum will host a dinner and beer pairing — featuring the new line of Smokestack beers by Boulevard Brewing Company — prepared by Chef Rob Dazell of 1924 Main restaurant in Kansas City. Tickets are $80 and are available by calling the museum at 233-7003.

In Kansas City, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art offers two cocktail hours. Every Thursday they host Cultural Cocktails from 6 to 8 p.m. in the new Bloch Building cafe. Open to museum members and non-members, the cocktail hour is a way for people to explore the museum, says Melvin Brooks, membership program development coordinator.

“The entire museum is open, so they idea is they’ll come in, maybe have a bite to eat, have a cocktail and tour the museum, or maybe the other way around,” he says.

The Nelson-Atkins also hosts monthly cocktail hours for its Young Friends of the Arts members. From 6 to 8 p.m. on the second Friday of every month — the next one is tomorrow — YFA members and guests can have cocktails while they peruse a new exhibit. Mr. Brooks says many just come for the cocktails, but the museum has added 15-minute tours to showcase its works.

It’s a “good way for them to socialize and network and see the museums’s permanent and revolving collection,” he says.

Lifestyles reporter Lacey Storer can be reached at lstorer@npgco.com