Bombay Sapphire:
Ingredients of a Masterpiece

Bombay Sapphire believes that bartenders are artists. But most people don't see it that way. So we asked ourselves, how can we inspire others to see cocktail making as an art form?

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Most Imaginative Bartender Competition, a renowned competition where bartenders create some of the world's most ingenious cocktails. We took those cocktails and broke them down into their basic ingredients. Raw ingredients, like jalapeño pepper, beet, blackberry, mint, and pistachio, were dehydrated, pulverized, and combined with binder to make paints.

These paints were given to artists from the New York Academy of Art. And every cocktail was brought to life on canvas. Over 25 paintings were created and exhibited at an international art gallery in NYC. Visitors engaged in a totally unique experience where they could sip the cocktails and, at the same time, contemplate the painting that it inspired. Both made with the exact same ingredients.

The cocktail paintings were also used to promote the MIB competition on social media. And more people talked about it than ever before. But for Bombay Sapphire, it was all about making a bold statement: bartenders are true artists.