Alquímico – The Bar

Jean Trinh opened Alquímico with business partner Yeferson Avila Rodriguez in 2016 after previously operating the smaller El Laboratorio in Cartagena. The new bar began on the mansion's ground floor and gradually expanded through the building, ultimately creating three distinct spaces rather than three versions of the same bar.

The ground floor, the heart of Alquímico, is known as The Mansion and this centres on Colombian ingredients. Above this, The Balcony takes classic cocktails and reinterprets them through Colombian produce and flavours. The rooftop Terrace draws its inspiration from Alquímico's farm at Filandia in Quindío and the bar's From the Bar to the Farm project.

That emphasis on Colombia is fundamental to Alquímico. Rather than importing flavours to reproduce an international idea of cocktail culture, the bar has made the country's biodiversity part of its identity.

Fruit, herbs, spices and other produce consequently do more than provide flavours for individual cocktails. Some come from the company's own farm at Filandia; other ingredients are sourced through relationships with Colombian growers and communities. Behind the bar, meanwhile, an R&D programme investigates ways of transforming this produce. Alquímico Lab works with Colombian fruits and spices to produce wines and also makes different styles of mead, combining contemporary experimentation with traditional processes.

Trinh has repeatedly stressed that guests aren't required to understand the infrastructure behind their cocktail. Alquímico is designed first to be a welcoming, energetic bar, somewhere people go to drink, eat, listen to music and have a good time. Those interested in where the ingredients come from can discover the background story, but knowing the bar's ethos isn't a prerequisite for enjoying Alquímico.

Accessibility is another important part of the proposition. Trinh deliberately priced his first Cartagena bar so cocktails weren't exclusively for wealthy visitors, and he has sought to keep that philosophy at Alquímico. International visitors are obviously important in a city such as Cartagena, but Trinh has spoken about wanting Colombians to regard Alquímico as a bar for them.

This unique proposition has attracted considerable international recognition.

In 2020, Alquímico became the first Colombian bar to enter The World's 50 Best Bars and simultaneously received its Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award. It subsequently reached No.10 in 2022, No.9 in 2023 and No.8 in 2024, before ranking No.11 in 2025.

At the 2024 Spirited Awards, organised by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, Alquímico received both Best International Cocktail Bar and the overall World's Best Bar award.