I was looking over my Google Analytics for my blog posts. A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about The Merry Manhattan cocktail creation for a party. Two things were interesting about that blog post. One, it was my own creation. Two, I used DALL-E to create a photo of the drink for my blog post. I didn’t get a picture of the drink, even though I made it 12 times that night. For whatever reason, this blog post was my most popular one for December 2025. I thought I would give it a redux. Image generation has come a long way, so let’s see how things have changed.
As a baseline, here’s the AI-generated image from two years ago, created with DALL-E 3.
The original DALL-E 3 photo looks kind of crazy when you look back. I would never garnish a drink with a grapefruit wedge; it would have been a peel.
To remind you of the cocktail recipe for The Merry Manhattan:
The Merry Manhattan
5
minutesThe Merry Manhattan is a festive twist on the classic Manhattan cocktail, perfect for holiday celebrations. This elegant drink features a rich amber hue, achieved by blending rye whiskey with sweet vermouth. The traditional flavor is enhanced with a unique addition of smoked cherries, adding a subtle, smoky sweetness. A sprig of rosemary infuses the cocktail with a fragrant, herbaceous aroma, invoking the essence of winter. The drink is served in a rocks glass containing a large ice chunk. The finishing touch is a gracefully twisted grapefruit peel, adding a citrusy zing and completing the cocktail’s holiday charm.
Ingredients
1 oz Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth
2 oz Whistle Pig Rye Whiskey
2 dashes Sour Cherry Bitters
2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
Fresh cherries (for smoking)
Fresh rosemary (for smoking)
Grapefruit peel (for garnish)
Ice
Directions
- Prepare the Smoke:
Gather a few fresh cherries and a sprig of rosemary.
Using a kitchen torch, gently torch the rosemary and cherries until they start to smoke. Be careful not to burn them.
Immediately cover the smoking rosemary and cherries with a rocks glass to trap the smoke inside. Let it sit for a minute to infuse the glass with the smoky aroma. - In a mixing glass, combine 1 oz of Vermouth and 2 oz of Rye Whiskey.
- Add two dashes each of Sour Cherry Bitters and Peychaud’s Bitters.
- Fill the mixing glass with ice and stir well to chill and dilute the cocktail.
- Add an ice chunk to the smoked rocks glass.
- Strain the stirred cocktail into the smoked rocks glass.
- Finish and Garnish:
Take a grapefruit peel and express (squeeze) its oils over the drink.
Use the grapefruit peel as a garnish.
Use one of the smoked cherries as a garnish.
Use the sprig of rosemary as a garnish.
Notes
- Enjoy the smoked cherries as a treat, or save them for a future cocktail garnish.
Here’s the first try with Nano Banna Pro. I gave it the recipe card along with the prompt to create a realistic photo for a Christmas or New Year’s party setting.
I am still not in love with the photos. They are better for sure. Let me try a new approach. I am going to just send a link to the blog post and ask for the photos again.
This time it was much better. I like that it used a fancy cocktail cherry, like a Luxardo cherry, instead of one with a stem.
I found this an interesting way to visualize how a drink can come together. I like inventing my own cocktails for parties. This gives me a way to experiment with the visual presentation.
Now, Nano Banana Pro has way more capability than DALL-E 3 had, so I can do more things. I can make process diagrams for the recipe card. Let’s try that.
Now, we are talking.
A few takeaways:
- Models are improving rapidly.
- You can do something new with Generative AI models.
- And, the power of AND. I started with a photo, then pivoted to a recipe card diagram. I could keep anding. I could make it a YouTube video script. I could make it a series of cocktails. This is the most critical takeaway for 2026. It is not just about doing one thing more efficiently; it is about doing more things than you could before.
Buckle up. You might need a drink in 2026.