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Alquímico

Cartagena

Latin party vibes, with drinks that showcase Colombia

Set in a 19^th-century mansion house in the pulsating heart of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, Alquímico is three floors of full-on fiesta. The party is orchestrated by the ground-floor courtyard bar, its all-female team of bartenders throwing out expertly crafted cocktails while also spontaneously throwing out dance moves. 

Climb the centrepiece staircase and the tempo slows a little, with more classic drinks starring, while the roof bar is all-out Reggaetón club. If you come late, when the place is packed out – up to 1,200 people – every floor is bouncing.

But Alquímico is a party with purpose – Colombian culture and community runs like a rich seam through everything that happens here. Bar owner and philanthropist Jean Trinh runs many community-led projects, with proceeds from the new three-part menu at Alquímico going towards his causes.

The first floor menu celebrates his Comunidad project, which supports farmers in a previously war-torn region whose rare regional ingredients underpin the menu. In 2026 Alquímico will fund the construction of buildings there, including a school. If there's one cocktail to try – all though in truth they're all delicious – it's Mango, a blend of tequila, homemade mango vermouth and hop maceration.

Up on the second floor the drinks fund a bartender academy and a music foundation for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, while the third floor's offering draws on ingredients from Alquímico's own coffee district farm and will help to underwrite the region's reforesting.

Wherever you find yourself, make sure you try some of the bar's flavoured meads – their honey base produced by the farm's own bees. As you explore each floor, you'll discover that there is provenance and meaning behind everything at Alquímico.

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