My two friends Lisa and Steph live in Tamworth, about 20 minutes on the train from Birmingham. Every few months or so we head into the city for drinks and food and a well needed girly catch up. Last night we headed first for The Alchemist, a fantastic cocktail bar on Colmore Row, and then onto Amantia, a Spanish restaurant on Bennetts Hill, a 5 minute walk away.

The Alchemist

I was so excited to visit the Alchemist, after hearing incredible things from various people. I was especially excited as they are due to open a new bar on King Street in Nottingham later this year.

Known for its creative cocktails it really will be a great addition to the nightlife when it arrives.

Alchemist by name, Alchemist by nature, it offers incredibly complex, stunning concoctions in a range of interesting glasswear. From test tubes to conical flasks, syringes to funnels, all sorts of physics equipment was on display and in use. We went straight downstairs as we had reserved part of the bar area for a couple of hours. And then I didn’t manage to see the whole venue but the downstairs bar was simply beautiful. Decorated like an apothecary and covered in brass, it was visually stunning. In my excitement I completely forgot to take any photos of the venue!

The menu is pretty vast for all the effort that goes into making the cocktails, yet we didn’t really have to wait long for each of the drinks. The barmen are extremely talented to be able to have 4 or 5 different cocktails on the go at once!

We each had various cocktails, here are my standouts:

Jamie was making the Caramelised Rum Punch here, which was a spectacular watch.

My bubblebath contained Tanqueray Gin, aperol, chambord, lemon, apple and ‘fairy liquid’. This didn’t stop bubbling and was amazing to watch. It was lovely and fruity!

Jamie also very kindly went off menu for me. I absolutely love violet and rose, and Jamie created this stunning cocktail for me that was perfectly to my taste. Thank you!

The service from Jamie was second to none. That guy can multitask! He was incredibly attentive to each and every customer even though within an hour of us arriving (we were there from 6pm-8.30pm) the bar filled up dramatically. Jamie took the time to describe the cocktails and was happy to answer any questions we had.

We had a table booked so we only sampled a small part of the menu. I’ll definitely be back again to try more!