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26th April, 2021 by Owen Bellwood
Irish producer Kinsale Spirit Company will offer the first whiskey cask to be auctioned as a non-fungible token.
The Kinsale Spirits Company is auctioning a cask of Irish whiskey using NFT technology
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital maker that uniquely defines an asset available for purchase. The technology has been previously used for the sale of digital artwork and other online artefacts.
The token provides the buyer with proof of ownership of an asset, in this case a cask of Irish whiskey. The technology is powered by the blockchain and offers full traceability of the cask throughout its lifetime.
In a first for the whiskey market, Kinsale Spirit Company is auctioning a rare cask of Irish whiskey. Available to purchase via the Open Sea marketplace, the cask contains Irish malt whiskey from the Cooley Distillery.
The 200-litre ex-Bourbon cask was filled with spirit in 2001 and is undergoing maturation in a warehouse at the Great Northern Distillery. The cask carries a reserve price of US$9,976.68
Ernest Cantillon, co-owner of Kinsale Spirit Company, said: “I’ve been a keen observer on the sidelines of the NFT world for a long time and always wanted an opportunity to get involved.
“I thought that combining the rapidly evolving world of blockchain to such a traditional business as whiskey would be fun – such a juxtaposition.
“When this whiskey was laid down nearly 20 years ago, it would have been hard to even imagine the whole world of NFTs and cryptocurrencies.”
The auction will run on Open Sea until Friday 30 April.
Kinsale Spirit Company said it hopes to integrate digital auctions into its offering further in the coming years. The producer plans to open new channels for ‘whiskey aficionados and avid NFT collectors’ to invest in Irish whiskey.