A pharmacy. A still. A bar.
A craft cocktail bar in Pangrati, Athens. Four menus a year, one alembic still, thirty-eight seats, no shortcuts.
“I have sat at the third banquette every Friday for two years. Niko remembers that I drink the second round long, the third short, the fourth zero-proof. The Mastiha Old-Fashioned ruined other Old-Fashioneds for me. I am at peace with that.”
“We came on a Wednesday and ended up watching Iro distill mountain tea from a notebook of Stratos's notes. They opened a back-room seat for us at midnight. I have not had service this honest in any of London's better bars.”
“I do not normally write reviews. But the Verbena Sour they made for me on a Thursday was the best cocktail I have had in Greece. I asked Stratos for the recipe and he sent it to me, on Sunday, by email, with the gram weights and the ratio.”
“I do bar consulting for a living and I have eaten at the world's pretentious cocktail bars for ten years. AlchemyBar is the only one I have wanted to come back to twice in the same trip. The price is the price, the still is real, and the team is not in the business of being interesting.”
One letter when each new menu launches — the ingredient at the centre, the seven distillates, what's in print, and any bottle drops.