What, exactly, does midnight taste like? For some, it might be an espresso martini sipped in the corner of an overcrowded bar. For others, it might be the atmospheric depths of R.E.M. But for photographer Mert Alas, midnight has always represented a moment of transformation: when beauty becomes more striking, creativity knows no bounds, and the familiar takes on an entirely different character. 

The question finds its answer in Eau de Minuit, the first new gin to emerge since the launch of Seventy One, the British spirits house founded by Alas and Tasso Ferreira. 

Five years in the making, Eau de Minuit is the culmination of a decade-long exploration into the art of resting gin in oak casks. The result brings together three distinctive woods:  Pyrenean Black Oak, Vosges French Oak, and American Oak.

If the taste of midnight can be found in the gin’s amber depths, its spirit is equally present in a short film starring Naomi Watts, alongside Alas’s muses Natasha Poly, Tziporah Salamon, Scott Barnhill, Sacha Bilal, Charlie Knepper and Myles Crosby. 

Unfolding as a seductive, cinematic conversation, the film explores midnight as a state of mind rather than a moment in time. 

“I wasn’t interested in creating something simply because it was new. I wanted to discover whether one moment could transform the spirit without changing its soul,” says Alas. 

The unveiling of Eau de Minuit marks another chapter in Alas’s ongoing pursuit of the unexpected, challenging established conventions of gin while pushing the boundaries of craftsmanship and the cultural universe surrounding spirits. 

Here, gin becomes more than a drink. With Eau de Minuit, Seventy One invites us to reconsider how a spirit can be perceived, experienced, and desired, transforming a familiar ritual into something altogether more mysterious.