If you’re looking for a romantic place for the first date The Alchemist augmented reality experience at their St. Martin’s Lane location is definitely not the right place for it. (Tip 1) You will spend your entire evening on your phone and she will never text you back and all you’ll have to remember her by for the rest of your life are a couple of grainy AR videos on your phone it took you hours to finally get a decent recording of. But hey, at least there’s an actual reason to do what most people do anyway! (Tip 2)
Due to the novelty of the experience and the Instagramableness of the cocktails and their AR bundle, The Alchemist is definitely a place worth a visit if you’re looking for an exciting snap-worthy night, it gets bonus points for being high up the scale of ‘ability to prove to the people on Facebook you don’t like very much how much better your life is than theirs’. (Tip 3)
The cocktail variety had something for everyone; one that was basically a really alcoholic ice cream, a peach IPA (Yes really), a highly alcoholic cup of tea (the best kind), and something that tasted like getting a mouthful of sour sea water. (not so much) Yes, there was something for the whole (over 18) family. (Tip 4)
Once you’ve caught all 6, which is much easier than Pokemon and added their amazing animations all on your AR app after a few hundred attempts (in our case). Oh, and make sure you install the app beforehand, because otherwise what is the point of even going, you pleb (You’re welcome P.S. that’s Tip 5). You unlock a special secret cocktail that’s not on the menu. Whoooop! (bonus tip)
Sadly, it also comes with a side of crippling disappointment as the ‘final boss’ cocktail does not actually come with an animation of its own, however, it still feels like a small victory. Then you should probably head home because at this point you probably had like 7 cocktails. (Another bonus tip)
In addition to the cocktails, The Alchemist also provided the best churros and canapes I have ever experienced in my life and probably one of the best burgers, which also happened to be vegan. I’m not vegan, but after these, I certainly could be.
The place is definitely worth a visit, but be prepared to spend several hours tapping at your phone getting the AR to work and then having fun recording said AR videos. Be prepared to refuse to leave until you’ve unlocked the ‘final boss’ monster drink while mixing 6 different concoctions of alcohol. Actually, thinking about it, it sounds pretty similar to a normal night out…
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