When we see a bottle of liquor, we see a delicious drink waiting to happen. However, there are some people out there that see more than a drink… they see art. The best part about these artist/photographers is that their work doesn’t look like it has anything to do with alcohol at first glance – actually, we bet it would be even cooler if you had a few drinks and then looked at it.

Ernie Button: Vanishing Spirits – The Dried Remains of Single Malt Scotch

He got the idea for the project when he was putting a used Scotch glass into the dishwasher and noticed fine, lacey lines of film filling the bottom of the glass. He did some experiments and realized that the alcohol dries and leaves sediments in various patterns; all different, like snowflakes. Adding different colored lights to the bottom of the glass, he’s able to make these crazy looking images that look like landscapes, and even extraterrestrial or celestial. When you’re looking at the photos, imagine you are looking straight into an empty glass of scotch (that’s what the point of view is meant to be).

Michael Davidson: BevShots

Davidson is a super science geek, turned magnificent liquor artist. He was a research scientist for over 20 years, but then realized how freaking cool different alcohols look under a microscope. He created “BevShots” (now run by Lester Hutt – another super geek) – images made by crystallizing the drink of choice on a lab slide. They use a standard light microscope with a camera attached and the light source is polarized and passed through the crystal. This creates some crazy awesome colors. BevShots is smart and has made a real business by putting these images on all sorts of things that you can buy like coasters, shot glasses, scarves and wall posters.

Both of these artists do some amazing work, so make sure to check them out. Christmas is coming soon and we want all of them… so work on it.