The Alchemist The dark art of cocktails

When it comes to creative , thinking differently and embracing the dark side Glasgow has a new wizard on the block or should we say square. We welcome The Alchemist to George square in the city with a fun , exciting and alluringly dark twist.

When we opened our first venue north of the border in Edinburgh, we knew we would feel right at home in Scotland. It was inevitable that we set our sights on a second venue north of the border. Glasgow is a cultural and creative hub, this paired with its ancient ties with witchcraft and the conjuring of our own magic made it a natural location for an Alchemist. We’re incredibly proud to be in the very heart of the city, located on George Square. The brand launched in Manchester, UK in 2010 and have 21 venues across the UK, gaining notoriety for our weird and wonderful cocktail concoctions like The Colour Changing One, a smoking concoction that magically changes from blue, to purple, to pink before your eyes. Other Instagram-able cocktails include The Nextpresso Martini, a twist on a classic Espresso Martini served with bespoke salted caramel caviar on a dark chocolate spoon and The Edible One which is fully edible (cup included!) and our most sustainable cocktail.

The food menu is just as playful as our drinks offering, designed to evoke nostalgia and a sense of fun with dishes such as the Chorizo and Cheddar Dough balls served with a syringe of cheese, and the Chocolate Cookie S’mores which is ‘flavour blasted’ with a cherry flavoured smoke bubble.

The Alchemist Glasgow interiors feature futuristic, divine influences from astrology and the cosmos. With celestial lighting installations that act as structural statements in the daytime and illuminate the bar and restaurant at night, like our moon installation in the speak-easy style bar, plush seating that wouldn’t look entirely out of place in a spaceship and the use of rich coloured base metals and marbles.

The opening of our Glasgow venue has been fantastic and an incredibly smooth one too. It’s been great to see the hype before we opened and is a great sign in terms of expanding further into Scotland, continuing with a second Edinburgh venue in Summer of this year.

In terms of experience, a key feature of The Alchemist Glasgow is our Cocktail Dispensary, an installation no other Alchemist venue has. The Dispensary, in partnership with Edrington Beam Suntory, is a cocktail machine fitted into a pillar which offers an immersive experience as well as the choice of three Naked Malt whiskey cocktails. Each cocktail has been designed by our bar team to make whiskey accessible even for drinkers who steer clear of darker spirits.

You choose your cocktail and activate the machine with an Alchemist coin, on insertion the machine lights up, components in a glass box start to spin and move liquid around vials. The machine then dispenses your chosen cocktail with a plume of scented mist. In classic Alchemist showmanship style but with a distinct twist exclusively for Glasgow. As our strap line is ‘theatre served’ it is incredibly important that memorable moments like the Dispensary are at the core of offering experience.