If you have often wondered what exactly lies within the various concoctions that make our favourite alcoholic drinks, then here is your answer. These incredible pictures show popular cocktails magnified up to 1,000 times under a high-tech laboratory microscope. Produced by U.S. firm Bevshots, they reveal the incredible molecules and kaleidoscopic colours created by the different combinations. Capturing the constituent parts of favourite drinks such as vodka, pina colada and Chablis, the pictures were taken in Florida State University’s chemistry department.
1. Sake
2. A White Russian
3. Tequila
4. Scotch
‘What you can see in the magnified pictures are the crystalised carbohydrates that have become sugars and glucose,’ explained Bevshots founder Lester Hutt. ‘Each image was created by using a pipette of each particular drink and squeezing a crop onto a slide.
‘Then the droplets are allowed to dry out and then once they have the slide is placed under the microscope and a picture taken.’
It usually takes around four weeks for the alcohol to dry out completely in an airtight container – although in some cases it could be three months.
5. A Pina Colada
6. Whiskey
7. Champagne
8. Rose wine
‘Some drinks such as vodka do not have as many impurities in as say for example a pina colada cocktail,’ said Mr Hutt. ‘So when they break down into their constituent parts they can fall apart and not dry out properly. This means that photographing something like vodka can take up to 200 attempts to get properly. ‘Cocktails can have fruit and soft drinks in which contain citric acids and complex sugars which dry out well and look great photographed.’
9. A Daiquiri
10. Chablis
11. A Margarita
The incredible shapes and colours of the boozy artwork are highlighted by shining natural light on top and through the bottom of the slide. They are taken using an old-fashioned 35mm camera. ‘It is like a prism and the separation of light that is caused when sunlight is shone through one,’ Mr Hutt said. ‘With my background in chemistry, I saw the potential in these kind of pictures and am so glad to be able to offer them up as art works.’
12. A Dry Martini and A Pina Colada
Open for business since August 2009, Bevshots estimate that they have sold over 20,000 examples of their alcoholic art works.
