The result was “Ingredients of a Masterpiece”, a campaign that took the most creative cocktails from the competition and transformed them into paintings. To achieve this, cocktail ingredients like jalapeño pepper, beet, blackberry, mint, and pistachio were dehydrated, pulverized, and combined with binder to make 173 batches of custom paint. These paints were then given to artists from the New York Academy of Art and every cocktail was brought to life on canvas, using the same ingredients as paints. Over 25 original paintings were created.

An art exhibit was held at an international art gallery in NYC featuring all the paintings along with the cocktails that inspired them. Crowds from both the art and cocktail-making worlds engaged in a 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.

“Ingredients of a Masterpiece” took raw cocktail ingredients and transformed them into paints. To achieve this, Bombay Sapphire collaborated with Golden Artist Colors, one of the world’s leading art paint manufacturers. This was the first time that company had incorporated food grade organic material into paint.

Using these paints, artists from the New York Academy of Art created over 25 original cocktail paintings, which were used to promote the competition on social media. A portrait of the winner of the competition was also created using the ingredients from his winning cocktail. This portrait was featured on the cover of GQ magazine and the rest of the paintings were showcased in the same issue.

An art exhibit was held at an international art gallery in NYC featuring all the paintings, along with the cocktails that inspired them, drawing crowds and press from both the art and cocktail-making worlds.

The cocktail paintings were used to promote this year's Most Imaginative Bartender Competition on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And more people talked about this year’s competition than ever before. Social mentions increased by 173%. Engagement on Twitter increased by 89%. And the campaign achieved over 511 million total impressions. “Ingredients of a Masterpiece” was featured in several publications from both the spirits industry and the art world.

At the end of the campaign, a portrait of this year’s Most Imaginative Bartender was created using the same ingredients from his winning cocktail. This portrait was featured on the cover of GQ magazine. The cocktail paintings were also showcased in a spread within the same issue of the magazine. But for Bombay Sapphire, it was all about making a bold statement: bartenders are true artists.