Glasses stack up on bedside tables, on the edge of the bath and in the front hall. Most houses are dark holes of lost glasses that one day, months from now, might find their way to the dishwasher. They gather dust and become stickier as time goes on.

Next time you find an offending vessel, take a look inside; you might just discover something beautiful. This is exactly what Ernie Button stumbled across when, as he was about to clean his scotch glass the morning after the night before, he noticed an interesting dried film in the bottom.

Button, an Arizona-based photographer, has an eye for capturing objects that usually go unnoticed. On looking closer, he realised that the dried whiskey made peculiar patterns in the bottom of his glass. Thus was born his series, Vanishing Spirits: The dried remains of single malt scotch.

The differing patterns and images happen as a result of the varying types and amounts of additives that each brewery adds to their whiskey. Button compares the effect to snowflakes, because every time the scotch dries, it leaves a remarkably different pattern.

Button used different coloured lights to add a landscape effect to the image, whether that be terrestrial or extra-terrestrial in appearance. The images, taken from above, seem to nod to the celestial; as if they were photographed from space, looking back down at the Earth.

Visit Ernie Button’s website to find out more.