Top 10 luxury drinks images

Jamie Fleming of design agency Purple Creative rounds up what he believes to be the ten most striking, memorable and beautiful drinks images of recent times.

What makes a beautiful drinks image? To me it’s a shot that shows the product in its greatest light. Rather than an advert or a product shot used for trade, it’s a representation of a product that not only looks seductive, but tells a story, whether in an abstract or more direct way, and projects the right attitude and personality of the brand.

Luxury brands do it best – watches, cars, perfumes, jewellery, even bicycles. And the drinks industry is no different. If you want people to spend thousands of pounds on a rare bottle of spirits or Champagne, it’s got to look the part.

Luxury imagery for the drinks industry needs to be many things – emotive, thought-provoking and inspirational but above all memorable, especially in the busy bar and retail environments where it invariably lives.

The lifespan of an image is surprisingly long, so it needs to be done right first time or the brand will suffer in the longterm.

Click through for a gallery of ten brands that have nailed it in terms of telling their story without words.

Chivas 18 Year Old

Story: The 18 Year Old is a complex, multi-faceted whisky that inspired the tagline, “Every taste a new experience”.

Power: I love this image. It’s quite old now, but still powerful. It feels fresh and contemporary and neatly encapsulates a single idea. I’ve referenced it many times over the years when discussing beautiful imagery.

Perrier Joüet Belle Epoque Floral Edition

Story: Perrier-Jouët worked with Japanese flower artist Makoto Azuma to create this floral work of art made from a delicate botanical arabesque dotted with white Japanese anemones inspired by the original 1902 Perrier-Jouët bottle design by Emile Gallé. 

Power: It speaks of craft, beauty, nature and delicacy. I love that it uses a different medium – flowers – and interprets an Art Nouveau design in a fresh way. While incredibly feminine, it’s so OCD perfect that it’s somehow masculine too.

Courvoisier XO

Story: The XO expression is one of the finest Cognacs in the world; a banquet of intense flavours coming together to excite the senses.

Power: This image exudes luxury and captures the intensity and power of the cognac, heralding a firework of aromas. The image was inspired by Courvoisier’s mantra at the time, “revolutionary spirit”, and was brought to life in a stunning and unexpected way using an angle grinder to produce the sparks.

Disclaimer: Purple created it with photographer Tim Hogan.

Absolut Unique

Story: A pioneering bottle printing technique makes every bottle of Absolut Unique an original – with its own numbered label – so each has a different colour, pattern and design.

Power: This is a clever take on their long-running campaign that has always featured the brand’s iconic bottle shape. This well-constructed shot feels innovative, fresh and dynamic – almost scientific – and tells the story of the idea in a visually arresting way.

Glenfiddich Rare Collection

Story: Glenfiddich’s Rare Collection features a rare vintage whisky that changes every year, presented in an Italian hand-made leather box, which has been  brought to life in this image.

Power: As an image, I think it’s astonishing. Natural, contemporary and dynamic, the undulating shapes draw the eye into the bottle. It turns what is essentially a static box into something exceedingly sexy. It also showcases the warm copper and white brand colour palette.

Disclaimer: Purple created it with photographer Ted Humble-Smith.

Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin 

Story: Part of the brand’s Inspired By campaign, this is called Brilliant Botanicals by artist Tord Boontje. Originally an installation, he laser-cut the botanicals from a single sheet of stainless steel to reflect the delicate flavours, adding blue Swarovski crystals.

Power: This is a beautiful image; a real work of art. Elegant, delicate wondrous and somehow incredibly soothing, your eyes don’t know where to look but you know from the first glance that it’s Bombay Sapphire due to the colour palate. 

Johnnie Walker Explorer’s Edition The Royal Rout

Story: The whisky was inspired by the royal trading route, famed for bringing luxuries to the world, like precious silks, Persian ornaments, diamonds and pearls.

Power: This image tells an amazing story. The whisky may be inspired by an old story but the beauty image is bang up-to-date. Modern, premium, thought-provoking, mysterious, luxurious and a bit sexy. it’s pitching Explorer’s Edition as an essential travel item and giving you a glimpse into the sophisticated lifestyle of the drinker.

Dom Pérignon

Story: There seems less of a story here – it’s not a smoky Champagne – but it uses back-lighting and colour in an enticing way.

Power: A dynamic, mysterious and mesmerising image, but also slightly sinister, like the smoke from a gun that’s just been fired, it’s a shot I can’t seem to get out of my head. 

Piper Heidsieck Bodyguard Rosé Sauvage

Story: Inspired by crocodile skin, Piper has created a luxury rosé Champagne encased in faux croc. A Nile crocodile was scanned for 12 days before the image was laser printed onto a steel mould, which was then filled with molten latex. The skin keeps the fizz cooler for longer – just like a real reptile.

Power: This screams luxury and preciousness, and the hooked tail around the bottle hints at protection.

Rémy Martin Louis XIII Le Jeroboam

Story: This is a blend of over 1,2000 rare cognacs from Grande Champagne housed in a Jeroboam. The shape of the decanter is a replica of a metal carafe found on the site of the 1569 battle of Jarnac, which required five kilos of crystal to shape it.

Power: This image is powerful – more of an art sculpture than a product shot. The gorgeous glasses represent the new size of the decanter and the hundreds of delicate notes and aromas found in the Cognac. The amber colour of the liquid is so alluring, especially set against the black background.