# Cocktail Photographer

> Brent Herrig is a cocktail and drinks photographer and creative director based in New York and London, working since 2007. He shoots cocktails, spirits, beer, wine and liquid motion for brands, agencies and hospitality groups, uses AI to extend real drinks photography for drinks brands, and offers drinks and taste consulting and AI consulting.

Brent Herrig has photographed for Ketel One, Tanqueray, Belvedere, Chandon, Baileys, Smirnoff, The Botanist, Koloa Rum Company and HH Bespoke Spirits. He was principal photographer of The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual (2015), winner of the 2016 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Cocktail and Bartending Book, and of The Dead Rabbit Mixology & Mayhem (2018). He served as CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits.

There is no fixed studio. Shoots run through a network of partner studios, bars and locations in New York and London, chosen to fit the brief. Brent Herrig travels for campaigns, and production travel has included Napa Valley, Oregon's Willamette Valley, England's sparkling wine country and Piedmont in Italy.

Every AI frame starts from real photography of the client's actual bottle, used directly or through a model trained on that photography, and the pack and label are checked against the approved label before anything ships. Whether the glass, liquid, garnish, setting or people are photographed or generated is agreed in writing in the brief.

To start a project, send a short brief through the contact page: the drink or brand, where the work will run, and roughly when you want to start. Brent reads every inquiry himself.

## Site

- [Cocktail Photographer home](https://cocktailphotographer.com/): Cocktail and drinks photography by Brent Herrig, working since 2007, with photography and motion, shoot plus AI extension, and systems and strategy for in-house teams and agencies, plus portfolio categories and booking.

## Services

- [AI Creative](https://cocktailphotographer.com/ai-creative): AI cocktail and drinks imagery built on real photography. Every AI frame starts from real photography of the brand's actual bottle. Compares four routes (traditional shoot, AI creative direction, hybrid AI production, AI consulting), with the Devil's Grin Texas Gin client case and answers on labels, cost and alcohol ad rules.
- [AI Creative Direction](https://cocktailphotographer.com/ai-creative/direction): Visual directions tested before the shoot, locked reference imagery, label checks and approval steps for AI drinks imagery, shown with the 30-second spot for client Devil's Grin Texas Gin.
- [Hybrid AI Production](https://cocktailphotographer.com/ai-creative/production): A real drinks shoot planned so AI can extend it into seasonal, regional and social formats, checked against the approved label before release. For client Devil's Grin Texas Gin, 1 shoot day plus 8 AI production days produced 32 still assets, 4 finished CTV pieces and 18 motion clips.
- [Consulting](https://cocktailphotographer.com/consulting): Two tracks, drinks and taste consulting for spirits founders and brands, and AI consulting for drinks teams.
- [Drinks and Taste Consulting](https://cocktailphotographer.com/consulting/drinks): A new spirit's taste profile, launch cocktails and launch creative for founders, and cocktail programs built around an established brand's own bottles, from the former CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits. Koloa Rum Company cocktail curation is the second example.
- [AI Consulting](https://cocktailphotographer.com/consulting/ai): Workflow mapping, brand and label rules, review steps and records, disclosure mapping by market (EU, New York, UK and platform rules) and hands-on team training for drinks brands, hospitality marketing teams and agencies. Brent does not give legal advice; the brand's counsel makes the legal calls.

## Portfolio Categories

- [Work overview](https://cocktailphotographer.com/work): Selected beverage and hospitality frames across the full portfolio.
- [Drinks photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/drinks): Cocktails, spirits, beer and wine for brands, agencies and hospitality groups. A production day covers 10 to 30 drinks, with hero, supporting and negative-space crops per build and motion from the same production.
- [Beer photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/beer): Pour builds with controlled head and condensation, packaging and lifestyle frames for breweries and beverage brands, including Lumen Beer Co.
- [Wine photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/wine): Bottles, labels, pours and vineyard lifestyle for wine producers, importers and hospitality groups, with label color matched to the physical bottle. Sparkling wine work includes Chandon.
- [Spirits photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/spirits): Label-accurate bottle builds, neat pours and signature cocktails for tequila, whiskey, vodka, gin and rum brands, including Ketel One, Cincoro, 818 Tequila, Koloa Rum and HH Bespoke Spirits.
- [Bottle photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/bottles): Label-accurate packshots and lineups for spirits, wine and beverage brands, from the Cincoro evergreen hero to HH Bespoke Spirits, The Botanist and Rivente cognac.
- [Bar and hospitality photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/bars): Cocktail menus, bar interiors and hospitality lifestyle for bars, restaurants and hotels, including menus for BlackTail and The Dead Rabbit in New York and Scarpetta in Miami.
- [Product photography on white](https://cocktailphotographer.com/on-white): Ecommerce, trade and catalog packshots of spirits, wine, beer and packaged drinks, delivered with clipping paths and sized per retailer spec. Brands include Ketel One, Belvedere, Koloa Rum, HH Bespoke Spirits and Pepsi.
- [Spirits advertising campaigns](https://cocktailphotographer.com/spirits-advertising): Campaign photography for spirits and liqueur brands across print, out-of-home, social and digital, including Belvedere, Ketel One, Baileys, The Botanist and Averna, plus Chandon sparkling wine.
- [Liquid motion and cinemagraphs](https://cocktailphotographer.com/liquid-motion): Pour builds, splash frames and looping video shot on the same day and rig as the stills, from Ketel One martini loops to Chandon pours and Lumen beer.
- [Tabletop video direction](https://cocktailphotographer.com/tabletop-director): Tabletop video, pours and action sequences directed on set for beverage and food campaigns and shot alongside the stills, including directed Ketel One pours and Chandon sequences.
- [Cocktail book photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/cocktail-books): Principal photography for The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual (2015) and The Dead Rabbit Mixology & Mayhem (2018), both published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, plus recipe book, menu and editorial cocktail work for bars, brands and publishers.
- [Commercial beverage and coffee photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/commercial-beverage): Coffee, soft drinks, and non-alcoholic beverage stills and motion.
- [Beverage lifestyle photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/lifestyle): Drinks shot in real settings, with people and environment.

## Insights

- [Insights hub](https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights): Articles and guides on lighting, pricing, production workflow, campaign planning and AI in beverage photography, written for art buyers, producers and brand teams.
- [Cocktail photography lighting, a working guide](https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/cocktail-photography-lighting-guide): How the light on a cocktail gets built, from meter reading to rim highlight.
- [Cocktail photography pricing](https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/cocktail-photography-pricing): How a quote gets built from day rate, production, crew, post, and usage.
- [How to hire a drinks photographer](https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/how-to-hire-a-drinks-photographer): What producers and brand teams should look for in a portfolio and a brief.
- [Spirits photography for advertising](https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/spirits-photography-for-advertising): The visual grammar of spirits advertising, bottle-first, color accurate, brand coded.
- [Beer photography, what actually matters](https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/beer-photography-tips): Head, condensation, color, and clarity, and how to get them without propping the beer.
- [Hybrid production, explained](https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/hybrid-production-explained): What hybrid production covers, when it saves money, and when it does not.
- [AI versus traditional beverage photography](https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/ai-vs-traditional-beverage-photography): Where generative AI is strong, where it is weak, and how to split the budget.
- [TTB compliance and AI in spirits advertising](https://cocktailphotographer.com/insights/ttb-compliance-ai-spirits-advertising): How TTB's March 2, 2026 tips on AI imagery, US industry codes, the UK CAP Code, the EU AI Act and New York's synthetic performer law apply to AI drinks ads, and what still needs real photography. General information, not legal advice, last reviewed October 2026.

## About

- [About Brent Herrig](https://cocktailphotographer.com/about): Background, working method and AI rules of a New York and London cocktail and drinks photographer and creative director, working since 2007. Covers his role as CMO of HH Bespoke Spirits and his work as principal photographer on two Dead Rabbit cocktail books.

## Contact

- [Project inquiries and booking](https://cocktailphotographer.com/contact): Project inquiry form (every Book a Call button routes here). Send the drink or brand, where the work will run, and timing. Email info@brentherrig.com. New York +1 516-596-8546, London +44 7833 833726.

## Related

- [brentherrig.com](https://brentherrig.com): Full creative portfolio (food, beverage, hospitality, portraits, advertising and motion).
- [AI lifestyle creative](https://brentherrig.com/ai-lifestyle-creative): Brent's AI lifestyle creative page, built on work for client Devil's Grin Texas Gin, with the 30-second spot, campaign frames and how the product-trained model works.

## Documentation

- [Full site content](https://cocktailphotographer.com/llms-full.txt): The full text of every page in the sitemap, generated from the rendered pages at build time.

## Optional

- [Knowing your audience, a culinary perspective](https://brentherrig.com/insights/guides/knowing-your-audience-culinary-perspective): Brent's restaurant guide on matching music, lighting, plating and photography to the guest a venue was designed for.
- [Terms](https://cocktailphotographer.com/legal/terms): Site usage rules, intellectual property, and limitation of liability.
- [Privacy policy](https://cocktailphotographer.com/legal/privacy): Data collection, GDPR and CCPA rights, processors, and cookies.
- [Cookie policy](https://cocktailphotographer.com/legal/cookies): Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity, what each collects, and how to opt out.
- [Affiliate disclosure](https://cocktailphotographer.com/legal/affiliate-disclosure): How affiliate links work and how recommendations stay independent.