Aye, some of the realism you'er looking for is merely in the settings. For example, can you see the black null-refractions in your glass? Especially at the top and near the base? These are caused by the Ray Depth and TIR limits being set too low for the rays to escape the glass itself, so they come up as black pixels, or null-refractions (I made that one up!) Try turning the TIR and Ray Depth up past 10, it will take care of that problem. And on to something more specific. The stock, Standard Glass preset should be at 152 on it's refraction index. The liquid should be well below that, below 133 even, as it's a cocktail, not water. Regardless, make sure your drink material and your glass material are as different as possible... Perhaps try a bubbly material for your drink? Another small thing : the ambience on your orange slice. Notice how you can't even see the orange rind in the shadows? Turn it's ambience up a bit, and make sure your Ambient dot is set to match the texture in the Color area, but not lower down... Make any sense? I'll give you a screenshot if it doesn't... Just some tips and ideas, I think it's a great start, and I love the ice-cubes!